Got It
by NightOwlHoot
Summary: Inspired by Adele's new release Hello. . . When Annie says, "Got It" at the end of S5, she doesn't really know what it means at the time IMHO. Ben & Annie's separate missions collide. COMPLETED.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: This fanfic was started as a One Shot after the release of Adele's Hello, but all of a sudden I have rambled on for 6 chapters. I really want to complete one of my stories, but part of me procrastinates b/c I don't want them to end.

Will elaborate later on the song and how it inspired me, would give it away now. Suffice to say that song is so incredibly moving and sad, filled with regret and sorrow. I love it.

 **Set Roughly a year after the end of S5.**

Annie was reinstated and returned to work as a covert operative for a special Task Force within the CIA for the last 8 months. It took Annie four months to recover from her surgery, but she fully recovered from and worked her butt off with McQuaid as her physical training partner. After a few months of Cross Fit, combined with Yoga and Pilates, she met Joan's condition of passing field tests along with the recruits who were easily 5-8 years younger. She was highly motivated for a ticket out of risk analysis and language translation assignments. She succeeded in making it back into the field, she proved to herself she could do it and felt elated to learn she passed her physicals and made it through the exercises at the farm. Ryan picked her up since he hadn't seen her in 10 days, the longest time they had spent apart since becoming a couple. He surprised her by flying her to Kuala Lumpur to celebrate. When they arrived, she was ecstatic. "I've never been and always wanted to visit." He smiled. "I know, I wanted to take you somewhere that was new for both of us, somewhere we could make memories all our own." They spent a week completely off the grid before returning to their lives in D.C.

Annie and Ryan see each other as often as they can and often rendezvous abroad when each has work outside of the U.S. The last four weeks Annie made weekly trips to Miami to establish a cover and to study her target. The mission was taking a toll on her personally. She was faced with many situations where she had to lie and hide things from Ryan and it was eating away at her as she worked on her wedding vows and went to pre-marital counseling sessions with Ryan at the church they were to be married in less than three months.

 **Chapter 1**

Annie strolled into Joan's office wearing a heavy heart along with her black Louboutin heels and an Alexander McQueen Pencil Dress.

"You have an update for me?" asked Joan as she looked up from her briefs.

"My cover is solid. I've done all the research I can on the guy and I passed muster at the agency. He requests new girls and never one more than once, I got the call, so I'm up this weekend." The things she had to do to pass muster at the agency ate away at her, but she pushed it down.

"Good. The FBI, DEA, Homeland, ATF and others are all hanging on this intel. Teams are ready to move on the info quickly, are all precautions in place?"

"A breech won't be suspected, I'm part of his routine whenever it comes stateside and believe me, I want to nail him and bring them all down for what they are doing."

"That's not what I meant, you've been asked to do a lot of things for the CIA, but this one is a tall order. How are you handling knowing that you're headed for the lion's den?"

"That's one reason I stopped by to see you," said Annie gravely.

Joan took her reading glasses which had been on the tip of her nose off. She sensed this was serious. "Let's sit on the couch."

Annie turned around to face the couch opposite Joan's desk. She walked over and let out a deep breath before plopping down on the couch. Joan came out from behind her desk and sat down next to Annie. She could almost see the hesitation on her lips as Annie tried to start, but didn't for a few seconds. Annie had rehearsed this talk repeatedly. She had these conversations in her head while on the plane, in the shower, waiting in line for coffee, and while driving to work.

Finally she started, "I know, I've wanted to hold on to this job so desperately…"

"Believe me, I know," said Joan with a chuckle. Their relationship was much freer now, they had become more than the hierarchy the agency liked to maintain. After years of tension, misunderstanding, distrust and hurt feelings, Annie and Joan had finally come to a good place. They could laugh about the past and reminisce with a more tempered perspective. They had the gift of time and a commitment to being open with each other. They were a cooperative team, not like best friends who took girls trips and went shopping or had spa days together, but close work colleagues and occasional dinner and brunch companions with their significant others. Annie had come to full circle and viewed Joan as the mentor she always wanted. On her part Joan completely trusted Annie. It took quite a bit for her to realize Annie's motives were always above board. She may not always agree with her actions, but she would always stand by her.

"This is hard for me to get out." Annie felt like she was letting Joan down in a way. Joan had gone to bat for her. Lobbied the DCI to reinstate Annie and allow her to be a field operative despite her health history and track record of going AWOL and hiding her heart condition. Joan had surprised her by her loyalty and she appreciated her confidence in her.

"I can see that. We've got time, I've got time," said Joan like a true mentor.

"This job has been everything to me. It was my goal for so long to be in the field, where I feel truly needed. Making a real impact in this world was all I ever wanted."

Annie paused thinking about her own words. "But this assignment and balancing my life with Ryan, it's gotten me to realize that there's more to my life than being an operative. I feel like I finally _got it_. It's a message so many people had been trying to tell me along the way, but I had to come to it on my own." She let out a deep breath. She had spit it out. Finally. It had weighed on her the last couple of weeks.

Annie turned to face Joan, up until then she had stopped looking her in the eyes. She noted that Joan was too stunned for words. Lord, thought Annie, what if she feels she's wasted time and resources investing in me these last few months?

Joan was thinking Annie had been back for about eight months. In that time she had done the work of two agents. It was like she needed to prove herself. She thought Annie would be part of her Task Force for at least another year or two. Every operative eventually leaves the field, but Annie? Joan never expected her to voluntarily leave especially not after all she went through and all Annie sacrificed to remain in the field, but Joan put her finger on what she was feeling, it wasn't disappointment, it was pride. The kind of pride that hits you when you least expect it was the best kind.

Though stunned, Joan spoke after what seemed like an eternity. "Annie, that's great news. It is ideal when operatives choose when to leave. I'm shocked, but genuinely glad you're doing it on your terms."

"I didn't want to let you down Joan and I'm sorry that you'll be short an operative."

"Are you feeling okay?" asked Joan still surprised. She wondered if there was something else to this change. If perhaps her heart condition relapsed despite the complex surgery needed to repair the damage.

"I feel in great shape physically, better than before my condition came to light, I'm eating well, exercising and sleeping regularly compared to my lifestyle a couple of years ago. Part of me feels invincible, but these last few weeks have been difficult mentally and emotionally."

"I know, I know you've had to make major sacrifices and I thank you. The agency will recognize what you've done."

"I'm not looking for accolades. I've never wanted or sought any of the awards the CIA has granted me. I'm not ungrateful, just not motivated by them."

Joan knew that about Annie, but she wanted her to hear how valuable she had been since returning.

"I just wanted to personally thank you and say that this job takes a toll on personal relationships. It's challenging to lie to those closest to us."

Annie let out a sigh. "The lying is easy at least it is for me."

"What?"

"That's what eats at me," said Annie who had come to terms with herself and her skills as she matured into her job. She realized an aspect of her job was to lie and manipulate and she knew she was fucking good at it. Too good.

"It's always been easy for me to take on a persona and be someone else. It's so easy for the lies to roll off my tongue. It's like second nature. Joan, the things I come up with on the fly, they're Oscar worthy and he believes me because he trusts me. I love him and I feel like I'm taking advantage of his love for me."

"I've been there Annie. Arthur and I have had to lie to each other for years as you know. You got dragged into some of our drama for which I am sorry. Finally after over ten years of marriage, we have come clean, at least I think we have," smirked Joan. You never know when you're married to a spy.

Joan continued, "You know things hit rock bottom for us before we laid it all bare and had no where to hide. I don't recommend waiting, that route is filled with heartache and pain, so I understand completely. You're being proactive and I think that's great."

"That's such a relief Joan. I didn't want to be a disappointment to you or the Task Force."

"You're anything but that Annie. I hope you believe me when I say that, so what's your timeline for exiting the field?"

"It would be nice to out of the field after the wedding. I'm finding it challenging to compartmentalize. I've given my all to the agency, I think its time to give my all to my own life and to Ryan. We've been talking about starting a family sooner rather than later. It's not like I'm getting any younger. That's what Danielle likes to say. She's dying to hold a baby."

"Annie, you know Mac would be thrilled to have a playmate! It's hard to hide things from those close to us, I'm proud of you for this, for making this choice." said Joan.

"Sometimes all I can think about is getting home to him and the life we've had and the dreams we've shared, but I've had to lie so much these last few weeks that sometimes I'm so ashamed. . .it's hard to be happy during our reunions. I feel like I've betrayed him." Her voice cracked a bit as tears welled in her eyes.

"Your priorities are shifting as your life changes, that's all normal. I'm really happy for you Annie. Human beings aren't meant to be static and there's a whole lot of good you can do at the agency and Ryan knows what your job entails."

"This case, I've never seen so much . . . it's hard to stomach sometimes."

"It will be a big win when you get what's on Lorenzo's computer. We'll be able to shut down most if not all their pipelines and do a lot of good. You can stay on it from the other side and still work here at the Task Force."

"That's what I want Joan."

"You've got it and you have my full support and all of Mac's hand me downs," quipped Joan.

Annie laughed, "You'll be one of the first to know when we're expecting."

Joan gave Annie a hug, "Good luck."

"Thanks for everything Joan."


	2. Chapter 2

**Note: As always, please review, I appreciate feedback.**

 **Four days after Annie's talk with Joan. . .**

 **Chapter 2**

"Joan! What can I do for you?" answered McQuaid as he looked at his watch, it was 7:58 a.m.

"Is Annie with you?" asked Joan.

He was always able to get to the nitty gritty when people spoke to him. He developed this skill, honed it to allow him to see through people and what they really wanted from him and as soon as she spoke he could hear genuine concern in her voice.

"I didn't expect her back until around dinnertime tonight, another 10 hours from now, she hasn't call me like she usually does before she boards," said Ryan as got on his computer. He knew if Joan Campbell were to call him searching for his fiancé, something had gone wrong on their mission.

"Annie is back in D.C. She wasn't feeling well so I ordered her to get. . ."

Ryan cut her off gruffly.

"How long ago did she leave the airstrip?" He knew all the CIA airstrips in the D.C. area. He could get to any of them in no time.

"It's been nearly an hour, I've tried her cell and apartment multiple times and we've been monitoring local emergency rooms for a woman fitting her description."

"And you're just calling me now?"

Alarms were sounding in his brain. Monitoring emergency rooms? That didn't sound good at all and why hadn't Annie called herself. That was their routine, their protocol. Ryan had the phone to his shoulder while he typed on his computer. He tracked Annie's car to her apartment. She had taken it to airstrip when she left for her mission. "Her car is at her place. I'm heading over there now," he said hastily.

"I'm not going to ask how and why you're able to track her car. . .it came in handy. Call me when you know she's okay, maybe she's just sleeping it off," said Joan somewhat relieved.

"What the hell happened and I want the truth Joan!" demanded Ryan while on the move. He scribbled a note for Costa-who had yet to arrive at work-to cancel all his appointments and ran to his car. He sped out of his parking spot with determination.

"I can't give you the details except to say she was on a solo mission that got hairy, but she got the job done. I have to get back to my command center. Call my office when you find her."

"Where the hell was she and what do you mean by hairy?"

"Honestly, I don't know many details. I haven't gotten her after action report yet."

"Fuck that Joan, she better be okay," Ryan said curtly as he threw his phone into the passenger seat of his Porsche 911 and continued speeding towards Annie's apartment.

The normal drive time from his office to Annie's D.C. apartment takes 17 minutes. Ryan made it in 11 minutes flat during the busy morning commute. He broke several traffic rules and made ample use of his horn during the drive. He also picked his phone back up and tried Annie's numbers repeatedly. As he tapped his thumbs on his steering wheel, he tried to tell himself that it was Annie and she always came out on top. It was a combination of her instinct, incredible skills and sheer luck. But he couldn't shake the horrible feeling that something was amiss. She was back in D.C., she always called when she was on her way. Always. Why didn't she call him? The last time he spoke to her was the previous afternoon, she said she'd be home in time for dinner the next day, but she would be unable to call him until she was done. After their call, Ryan had gone out and bought ingredients for dinner including her favorite ice cream in anticipation of her return. He also picked up their wedding invitations from the printer, they planned to stamp and address them together.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

"Annie, Annie!," the man with the ski mask snapped his fingers twice 12 inches from her face as he said her name.

"There's no time, we need to sweep this place and get out of Dodge," he whispered softly as he started to free her from the restraints.

Annie's head was throbbing as she tried to make sense of what just happened. Everything was a fog. At first her initial reaction was to be on the defensive with the masked man, but he was helping her and he knew her name. Where did he appear from? He wouldn't be sitting next to her on the bed and he wouldn't be making a frantic attempt at freeing her from her restraints if he was going to do her harm. Hell she was already in bad shape and it would be easy to take her out.

The mission she had been working had gone off script. Her mark wasn't acting as expected after weeks of research and surveillance. She thought she had everything under control. She was trying to make sense of everything that led to her beating by Lorenzo. Still out of instinct she used what strength she could muster through the pain to kick the masked man to the floor as he freed her second hand. Then she grabbed the gun that he dropped and pointed it at him shakily.

The man moved in slow motion and spoke in a quiet whisper, "Whoa, it's me Annie, I know it's been a few years, but you know me, let's get you dressed and out of here."

Annie's eyes narrowed. She shook her head, it throbbed and something had gone in her eye, she didn't know it, but it was blood dripping down from her hairline. There was a familiarity to the man's voice and she was suddenly able to access her memories despite her fogginess. She realized she was standing nearly naked in front of her ex-boyfriend. The man started to apologize to her for not getting there sooner as he walked towards her to take back his gun from her trembling hands. He did the best he could and moved as quickly as he could around the room.

Annie watched in a daze as he picked up her clothes which had been strewn all over the room, he brought her her purse and clothes and walked her to the bathroom noting that she was shaking. "Put on your clothes and try not to touch anything or leave anything behind," he said gently. Annie was a bit unsteady, she felt the repercussions of the blows she took, but willed herself to do as he said.

"I'm sorry, there's no time for us to take a breather. What did you touch in here?"

"Um, um," hesitated Annie. Focus she said to herself, you know protocol.

"Think, everything you touched," he ordered.

She closed her eyes and tried to concentrate, "The glasses, the chair, the door, the balcony door and railing. . ."

"Anything else?"

". . .The scotch bottle, and. . . the bed," said Annie trying to steady her shaky voice.

"Okay, you know what you need to do. We have less than five minutes," he said calmly hoping she could manage.

/ /

Annie entered the bathroom in the hallway, she didn't put her undergarments back on, her body was aching as she sat down on the toilet. It was painful to urinate. Lorenzo didn't have a chance to finish what he wanted to do because the doorbell rang and she was thankful for that. How did things go off script? It wasn't supposed to go down the way it had. She studied Lorenzo and knew he procured girls from the high-end call girl company she had spent weeks prepping to infiltrate, but she wasn't fully ready for his proclivities. None of the girls she spoke with at the agency mentioned it. It was during her evening with him that she realized he was part of her initiation into the agency. He said, if a girl could withstand a night with him and continue on, they were worth keeping and investing in. The girls never talked about their first night for fear that they would lose their lucrative jobs.

Annie noticed the blood tinged urine and the sharp pain she felt when she urinated and fought back her tears. She knew she had no time to dwell on what happened, she tied her hair into a bun and looked for any strays in the bathroom and flushed them down the toilet. She looked in the mirror and turned on the faucet to wash off the blood on her face. The cut was hidden by her hair, but she needed to stop the bleeding. She found a box of band-aids and put two on before shoving the box in her purse. She found a spray cleaner and sprayed everything she touched and turned on the hot water.

She quickly put on her pants, shirt and jacket. Then wiped down everything and left the bathroom with some tissues dampened with the cleaning spray. Everything was flushed down the toilet. She heard the man in the bedroom and peeked in on him stripping the sheets. She tiptoed straight to the office and picked up the small device she had planted to download all the information on the laptop. She noted another desktop. There was no time, but she pressed a button on her device and started a second download. She wiped down the door and desk and then went to the living room where the fire was burning. She tossed her undergarments into the fire as the man entered with a full garbage bag.

He didn't have time for hand holding, the clock was ticking, so he spat it out, "I need you to shoot him with this gun that you wrestled from him."

"What?"

She was so clearly out of it and he wished he had time to tend to her injuries, but he was under a time crunch and he had to stay focused for both their sakes.

"You need to say things got dicey and you shot him. If you actually do shoot him, you can pass a poly, no problem."

Annie had no problem shooting the man. Without thinking about the repercussions she took the gun and shot him multiple times before he stopped her and took her in his arms. She sobbed briefly before stepping back from him. He removed his ski mask and she saw clearly what she already knew in her heart, that it was Ben Mercer.

Ben wasn't easily shocked at this stage in his career, but he didn't expect her put a hail of bullets into Lorenzo and he was a little scared by the look in her eyes as she pulled the trigger, it was an icy angry glare.

"You ready?" She nodded in affirmation. He turned his jacket inside out and it showed as a maintenance worker. He grabbed a scarf he found in the closet handed it to her. She covered her head with it.

"Wait, I left something in the bathroom," she said as he stood in the foyer, she ran back to the office to grab her device from the office and her purse.

He took the garbage bags and wiped down everything they touched on the way out. He put on a baseball cap and she put on sunglasses, they took the service elevator down and exited the back alley.

He observed that she was a little unsteady, but they walked in silence a couple of blocks where he found a city garbage receptacle and dumped the garbage bag he had been carrying. They walked by a street vendor selling souvenir sweatshirts, he stopped and bought her a grey hoodie with MIAMI written across the front.

"Thanks," she managed to say as she put it on. It was painful to put her arms through the sleeves and pull the sweatshirt over her head, but it felt nice to be warm.

"My car's up ahead, take it to your plane, wipe your prints and leave it."

"I have some things in a studio in South Beach,"

"Tell me where and I'll take care of it. You need to get home and get to a hospital."

"Ben, what's going on here."

"Our missions collided, we weren't supposed to cross paths, but. . . ."

"Who in the hell are you working for?" Annie was working with a lot of agencies and Ben Mercer's name never surfaced. Maybe he wasn't Ben Mercer anymore.

"Our missions are aligned. You need to say that Lorenzo began to get suspicious of you and started to question who sent you when it looked like you didn't know what you were doing. When he started to beat you and attempted to rape you, you had no choice but to kill him."

"I knew exactly what I was doing until you showed up!"

"He was about. . ."

She cut him off, "The scotch was drugged Ben, another few minutes and another few swigs and he would have passed out and I would have been outta there with no scene to clean up!"

"I'm not so sure about that. . . even if he were unconscious, I would have done what I did, it was my mission."

Annie looked at him incredulous. Her head hurt and her sides as well.

"To kill him? Who wants him dead?" demanded Annie. She knew the Task Force was working with many agencies, but stopped short before naming them. She wasn't sure what he knew, but assessed that he knew a lot or soon would find out.

"I'm protecting you Annie. The less you know the less you have to lie. If you let them know I was here, they'll use you to get to me like they did before."

"So you're back to freelancing or what?"

Ben ignored the question. "I'm sorry I wasn't able to get there sooner. Go, get some ice on your bruises. And you can't tell Joan or anyone on your Task Force, not a word." He felt the need to underscore the importance of Annie keeping quiet about him and in that exchange she got a tidbit of information. He knew about the Task Force.

"She's going to find out. . . sooner or later. . .I don't lie to her anymore . . ." he heard a crack in her voice as she held onto her side.

Anymore? He had put her behind, thought of her when something random brought back a memory, but less and less as the days, weeks, months and years passed. He made a conscious decision to NOT look her up, but as he looked into her vulnerable eyes, he wondered what she had been through since they last parted. "Are you going to be okay?"

"I've had a lot of close calls, but tonight. . . " she sucked in her breath. "God it hurts. . .I think I have a fractured rib or two."

Ben looked at his watch, he thought he could spare some time to go out of his way. He owed it to her to make sure she got back home. He was supposed to kill Lorezno when the call girl left. From his vantage point in the building across the street, he had a clear shot. He ate a veggie burrito as he waited because he was starting to feel his age and knew he needed to eat healthier when on missions. It was in the middle of a chewing a big bite that he realized the call girl of the month was none other than Annie Walker. The contents of his mouth began to gag him. Suddenly he had to improvise. What the hell was she doing there? Was she still working for the CIA? She must be there to get something.

In and out was no longer the goal. He watched helplessly as the evening unfolded. Lorenzo always ordered food in the middle, food for both of them. None of the girls ate any after he was through with them. The last time it had been Middle Eastern, the month before Italian. Ben decided to watch for a delivery truck. He'd have to subdue the delivery person and get in there. And that's what landed him with Annie. He felt he owed it to her, so he said, "Come on, I'll drive you to your ride."

Annie was thankful that he offered to chauffeur her, she wasn't sure she could drive, she felt unsteady and in pain. She suspected she had a broken rib or two; she just didn't feel right. What was she going to tell Joan?

He looked over at her once inside the car, so "We have a history of dramatic reunions!"

It was painful to laugh, but she couldn't help it.

"I see life hasn't changed much for you."

"Touche"

"You want to know the irony?"

He nodded.

"This is supposed to be my final mission."

Ben's eyes widened. "You're wiser and braver than me. What's next?"

She smiled, "Visiting obscure places with my husband, learning to really cook, and babies if I'm lucky."

It sounded great to him, he wondered if there was a husband already or if it was wishful thinking, but he had no business to ask. He wanted to settle, but was always afraid he'd get bored and he was always replaying the past, it's hard to move forward when you're stuck and haunted by what you let go.

He dropped her off and wished her a happy life. He truly wished she would never cross paths with him again. He was trouble for her and he knew it. They said a quick good-bye.

"Have a happy life, you deserve it," said Ben.

She leaned in and kissed him on the cheek and left the car. They each had other work to do. Mission details to wrap up. Ben had to get back to Annie's studio and his own nest to clean up before he left Miami.

Once on the plane, Annie started an upload of the files she procured from Lorenzo's computers. There were dozens of teams counting on the information and hundreds of victims out there to save.

Annie reclined the airplane seat and dialed Joan.

"Joan,"

"You're ahead of schedule, this is good."

"Yeah, I'm uploading the files now," said Annie while gritting her teeth.

Joan was elated to tell Annie so she interrupted, "I know, Barber just hooted and hollered, it's still transferring, but we're looking at the files we have already as we speak."

"All the teams are moving into position?"

"You sound a little winded."

"Just knocked up a bit, it got a little dicey, I had to. . . "

"This is a huge win Annie, the teams are indeed getting ready. You did it!"

"I'll be at the command center in three or four hours tops." Joan could hear something in her voice that wasn't victory and celebration.

"What happened?"

Annie swallowed through the pain and the not so distant memories of Lorenzo's blows and body pressing on her.

"Annie?"

"I'm fine, just that he got rough."

Joan knew it must have gotten bad. "What? I'll send help."

"I cleaned up and I'm ok, I called the agency to say the night went well and he was extending my hours."

"Go to the closest military hospital and get checked out. I'll send someone."

"No, we're on the runway, ready to take-off."

"Ok, I'll send a car to take you to Walter Reed."

"That's ok Joan. My car's there, I'll make it, I just took some Advil and have ice coming."

/ /

When she hung up with Joan, Annie started to call Ryan as she usually did when she was on her way home from a trip, but she realized it was three in the morning. But she didn't know what to say anyway. Part of her didn't want to go home in the shape she was in, she wanted to spare him, there was no hiding her battered body and it was going to look worse before it looked better. And what would she say about how she sustained her injuries?

Maybe she could let him know her trip was extended and hide out somewhere to recover, but that was a no-go. Joan is going to need her, the intel she procured was about to start big operations. She decided to get to D.C. first before making a decision on what to say to Ryan, avoidance seemed the best play at the moment. He wasn't expecting her until the evening and the sun was hours from rising, she had time. She hated this, she hated keeping things from him. Ben hadn't even entered her mind, all she could think about was Ryan and she fell asleep on the plane wishing she were in bed next to him.

 **Note:** Here's where the Adele song comes in. When I heard it I thought of Ben, it's Ben's perspective. It's screamed to me.. . the song is how he feels about Annie, his regrets, his mourning over them and his choices. But he's lived with them and he's let go of her and his own regrets, but he hasn't let go of his self-loathing over how he treated her. He's grown up. He has called, but they are ghost calls. . . all in his imagination. He's talking to himself. . . but then a chance encounter. . . does it change things for either of them?


	4. Chapter 4

**Note: Please let me know what you think of this so far.** I have two more chapters I am cleaning up. I am up to a critical point-I can end it or keep going past Chap. 6. Originally meant to only be chapters 1 - 3 - Annie quits the field, gets messed up during her last mission, Ryan finds her tending her wounds at her apartment, she tells him she's done, that she spoke to Joan prior to leaving and he tells her that makes him happy but she doesn't have to do that on his account. She says, she finally GOT IT. Can't have a life with him and keep up lying/secrecy. She's learned from the past, it won't work. They are doomed to fail if she stays in the field. They get married. Ben who had decided NOT to look her up, does look her up a few months after he encountered her in Miami and watches from afar as she and Ryan marry (clearly like in the Hello song, she didn't give him any more thought). And there's where I intended it to end and it was just drabble I thought of while listening to Hello over and over again. Anyway, I decided to skip that last bit and keep going. . . so here we are. . .Chap 4 and two more coming when I clean them up. Please let me know what you think. . .I enjoy hearing from readers. ; )

 **Chapter 4**

 **D.C. – edge of Chinatown…**

Ryan screeched into the first open spot he saw on Annie's street. He had a key to her place, the one she insisted on keeping until after they were married. It was small, industrial chic, and barely 600 square feet. The apartment was special to her, finally a home after being homeless and moving around for so long. Despite She said it rooted her to have her own place. The small apartment had become special to him too and he decided he wanted to keep it after they were married. She didn't know it yet, but he had made an offer on the entire building. It was in a fringe neighborhood that begun transforming a couple of years ago. Young professionals and families could afford the area and started renovating the older apartments and homes. The real estate prices in that area of D.C. were climbing so Ryan thought it would be a good investment property.

Ryan often spent his nights at Annie's place when she was away on missions and he longed to be close to her. He'd retire there after the long days he would put in at work while she wasn't around. The apartment was just 10 minutes closer to work than his sprawling estate just outside of D.C. in Virginia. There was nothing and no one to go home to so he'd go to her place where he could still smell her on the pillows and sheets and where he could eat her ice cream. He used to replace what he had eaten, but it had become a running joke between them. One day he picked her up at Dulles after a mission, she went straight to the freezer and said, "Who's been in my mint chip." He was found out. That's how she knew he'd been there, that's when he fessed up that when she was away, he'd find himself there. And that's where Ryan was there the night before, longing to smell her hair and feel her body next to his while he slept. He had just left the apartment at 0640 to make it to work for an 0700 mission brief, he must have missed her by mere minutes. The thought nagged at him. If only he didn't have to rush into the office. . .

Ryan fished the keys out of his pocket while taking the steps two at a time, he didn't bother waiting for the ancient elevator. He entered the apartment and immediately breathed a sigh of relief. He could tell she was there from the sights and sounds. Maybe she came home early to surprise him, that thought caused him to smile. He called out loudly, "Walker?" There was no response.

Ryan heard the teakettle's low whistle. She had the burner on low, he went around the counter to the stove and lifted the kettle off the burner with more strength than it turned out he needed. The kettle was nearly dry and extremely light compared what he expected. He wondered how long it was on the stove when the sound of the shower coming from the bathroom reached his ears. The shower was on, now it made sense that she didn't hear him call out to her when he first entered the apartment.

Ryan bellowed, "Annie?" as he turned off the burner. He figured she must be in the shower and breathed a sigh of relief as he looked for Joan's number on his contacts list. He dialed her as he walked to the bedroom. Joan picked up immediately.

"She's having a shower," said Ryan as he opened the door to the bathroom inside Annie's apartment.

"Oh good. Make sure she gets some medical . . ." Ryan dropped the phone as soon as he opened the bathroom door.

"Ryan? Ryan?" asked Joan who clearly could tell the phone had been dropped.

He cursed aloud as he made it to the shower where Annie's naked body was partially inside the shower stall and partially on the floor of the bathroom. The water had completely drenched her hair and caused steam to fill the room.

All Joan could hear was, "Annie? Annie?" and Ryan's frantic voice.

Ryan McQuaid, the always confident former Navy SEAL and current CEO did what he did best. He was trained to react swiftly and manage crisis, though he rarely went into the field these days, he sprang into action as if it were second nature. He was able to temper his own fear. Ryan cut off the shower, then he lifted Annie up and off the threshold between the shower and the bathroom floor. He grabbed his phone from which he heard Joan's voice. Without getting back to Joan, he hung up on her and dialed 911. Ryan continued to assess the situation as he spoke to the dispatcher, he ripped a towel off the rack and covered Annie, but as the steam from the recently turned off shower dissipated, he got a good look at his fiancé and the gravity of the situation came to light.

Ryan finished telling the dispatcher what he thought the injuries were from and Annie's health history as he took another towel and rolled it up to place under Annie's head. When he got off the phone he took a closer look at her injuries he could no longer stem his emotions. His jaw tightened as he clenched his teeth when he looked at her naked body more closely. Along with the various scars he had stroked numerous times before were a host of bruises on both sides of her body and neck. While he felt her pulse he saw the marks on her wrists and noted that she had been bound by zip ties or handcuffs recently, he felt gut punched again to see that. Then his eyes took him to her inner thighs, each had huge bruises on them. He knelt down next to her and tried to stop from breaking down. His lip began to quiver as he kept repeating, "Annie, please wake up, please." His pleas went unanswered.

Ryan swallowed hard, coldness in the air hit him where his suit had gotten wet and cleared his head for a moment. He was a trained field medic, so tried to stir her by rubbing her sternum. It didn't work. Her pulse was weak, her breathing shallow, her skin felt cool to the touch. He estimated that she couldn't have been there longer than 30-45 minutes, but how long had she been unconscious and how was she able to make it home? He went into the bedroom and ripped the sheets off the bed he had made earlier that morning. He wanted to keep her warm, but mostly he needed to feel like he was doing something to help her.

"I love you Annie, I love you, I hope you can hear me, help is coming, you're going to be okay, I love you, please do something to let me know you can hear me. Annie, please, I can't lose you. Annie, Annie" he said as he rubbed her chest and squeezed her hand. He heard the distant sound of sirens. Tears rolled down his cheeks. He began pleading with God as he kissed her head and tried to wake her again, but without success.

/ /

Annie could hear a voice, she was confused, she thought it was her father at first and that she was lying on the grass beneath a tree in a backyard of her youth. She thought she could also hear Danielle crying in the background saying she was sorry that she let Annie get too high up in the tree. Annie continued to hear her name being called, but she couldn't open her eyes. She tried. She tried to will herself awake like that time she fell from the tree where she was trying to free a kite. She was only nine, but she couldn't force her lids open, she was so fatigued. She felt a warm touch on her chest and her hand being held and more words, lots of words repeated. She heard her name and the words: God and love. She couldn't make sense of it. She wanted to command her lips to say, "I'm tired, let me sleep", but none of her body parts listened.

/

Ryan reported what he knew about Annie's injuries and her health history to the EMTs. The EMTs assessed Annie's injuries on their own and swiftly put her on a gurney as they looked at her pupils and took her vitals. They didn't answer any of his questions and told him it was best for him to get out of the way and let them do their jobs. He reluctantly went into the living room where he saw something he hadn't noticed before. A cheap sweatshirt with MIAMI across the front of it, it wasn't something he had seen before. He looked around for the roller bag she left with. It wasn't anywhere. He did spot her purse on the kitchen table. He wanted to know what happened to her, but he let it go when he saw the EMTs wheeling Annie out. She was still unconscious.

They wouldn't let Ryan in the ambulance with them. He told them he found her in the shower when he couldn't reach her and that he was her fiancé, but they would not budge. They said he could meet them at the hospital. Before he locked up the apartment, he grabbed her purse. He locked got into his car to meet them at the hospital. Ryan drove with white knuckles and through memories of their last days together before she left for this mission four days ago. He always worried for her, but she would check in and it assured him that she was fine. She had come home with a sore shoulder once and another time she had some scrapes on her arms and legs, but he was confident she could take care of herself. He had seen her in action after all. Then anger coursed through him as he realized this was no sore shoulder or minor scrap that Tiger Balm (a favorite remedy of Annie's) or Neosporin would take care of. Who had done this to her? He was going to find out and McQuaid Securities was going to have a say in the op Annie was involved in whether it was over or not. Joan owed him.

Ryan called Arthur as he drove to the hospital.

"Ryan, you left the office. What's going on? We had that meeting at 0900 with the Boeing guys."

"Find out what you can about the op Annie was on."

"What's going on?"

"I found her unconscious and I'm following the ambulance to the hospital,"

"Oh my God. Does Joan know?"

"I don't know what she knows, she won't tell me anything, but Annie's non-responsive! Arthur, I want heads on stakes. Find out what you can."

"Ryan, is she being taken to a secure hospital?"

"I didn't have time for that. I called 911. Find out what you can about what happened to her, I need to know."

"I don't have the pull anymore, I can't just. . ." started Arthur.

"Yes you can! You're married to one of the most powerful women at the CIA!" shouted Ryan before he hung up.


	5. Chapter 5

Note: Thank you all for the encouragement and positive feedback. Thank you, thank you. I am glad to entertain others with my musings. I like to think Ben is a loner who has met many others during this travels and missions, but none stood out since Annie. Meanwhile, Annie fell for Simon, Auggie and then Ryan since, with each she learned more as an operative and became the version of Annie we saw in S5. I really believe she gave Ben very little thought, but Ben is right, Joan would probably want to know what Ben was up to in Miami and would probably use Annie to draw him back in. I wasn't planning on dragging that out, we'll see. I'd like to write a short fanfic for once. . . busy this week and stressed with report cards/conferences and my own kids' stuff. I do this to procrastinate, but I have to STOP and do what I get paid for. ; )

When Ben offered to drive Annie to her flight out of Miami he thought he saw what appeared to be excitement wash over her or on second thought he wondered if it was wishful thinking. It was more likely that she was simply grateful to have the help since she had been banged up pretty badly. He couldn't read her anymore. It felt like an eternity ago that they met in Sri Lanka. Then they were thrown together again in D.C. She started out as a hook-up while he was on an assignment, but it turned she occupied the free space in his mind and heart long after.

Despite the way he felt about her he loved the rush of his job more, he broke her heart twice and the last time they met for a mission she was so obviously different, altered as a result of his treatment of her and perhaps by her work for the agency. He replayed their last exchange over and over for months afterward. He had scarred her, he wasn't proud of it and while he wished her well over the years, a little bit of him hoped she still felt something for him.

Alex Winter, his new cover name, watched as Annie took out an old school flip phone from her purse and called a number before she entered his car. She rattled off her identifier as he tried to listen and watch, yet appear as if he were just keeping an eye out. Ben was already in the driver's seat as she remained outside the passenger side to complete her call. He knew the protocol. Though muffled, what he heard was "Juniper" and a series of numbers. He heard her say she'd be there in 15 minutes.

In the little time they had in the car together he learned that she was indeed still with the agency and still working with Joan Campbell. He was surprised at first that she gave up some information about herself. He was also surprised that she stayed in the game so long, she was such an idealist and romantic when they met, she had the same wanderlust he possessed and wanted work on projects restoring historic sites around the world. She wanted to meet "real" people and learn their native tongue from them instead of in a classroom. She had no roots that she revealed, but he never would have pegged her as a career operative. She was too pure for it. At least that's the Annie he met in Sri Lanka.

When he met her on that beach she was a breath of fresh air to him, she embodied the term free spirit. There were no other American girls traveling alone that he had encountered in that part of the world. She stood out immediately that day when he heard her laugh from across the way. But today she seemed calmer, mature, centered around something different. Then she shared that she was leaving the field. He wanted to ask her if she'd like to meet up for a vacation. The same proposition he had made the last time they were together. The one she turned down. He wondered if the answer would be different this time. . . For some reason he chickened out, he didn't ask that question. He asked another one and in the answering of it she revealed that she had plans to travel with a husband. He didn't know if there was one or if it was wishful thinking. But regardless his gut told him and she hadn't given him much thought and probably hadn't in years. They parted ways after a friendly farewell. He got the sense that she had no interest in keeping in touch and had no feelings about him either way. It was a neutral vibe he got from her. He kept his gaze on her as she walked to the plane and boarded. He waited for the plane's door to close and the wheels to move before he drove away.

/

After he allowed himself a minute to finish chewing and swallowing his burrito, Ben stood up in the apartment and picked up his sniper rifle. He needed the high power scope to get a closer look, he needed to be absolutely certain. When he was sure that Annie Walker was the call girl of the month, he called his contact.

"This better be good, it's late and you're not following protocol."

"You know I wouldn't call unless it was BIG, the girl in Lorenzo's apartment isn't a call girl."

The man on the other end sighed, "I take it you know her then."

Ben didn't answer, he was thinking of how to answer.

"Then you know she's on the same side."

"Why didn't you tell me someone else was on the scene?" asked a surprised Ben.

"We try to stay apprised of everything and that includes all government agencies. This doesn't affect you. You complete your mission and she'll complete hers. Steer clear. Our agencies are operating alone and we want to keep it that way."

Ben wasn't sure they really knew everything. Did they know who she was? Who she was to him?

"Can you give me a little more to go on? What's the mission she's working, because that might help me with mine and do they really know what Lorenzo is capable of?"

"Shit, Winter, the woman is a covert operative, she is doing her job and knows the risks. Proceed with your mission or I can call someone else in."

"No, not necessary." said Ben as he watched Annie get invited to the balcony from his vantage point. Lorenzo whispered something in her ear from behind and she laughed a nervous laugh. He was just getting started, he liked to strike when the girls least expected it. He hoped Annie was prepared.

"I repeat, we don't need them up in our business on this one and we're not going to get in the way of their op, got it?"

"Loud and clear," responded Ben who was only half listening as he continued to monitor the situation in Lorenzo's apartment.

/

Ben weighed the options after he saw Annie to her plane. He drove back towards the city from the airfield. He did have to follow his protocol to let his superiors know that he had completed his mission. But would they also find out that he had engaged the CIA agent despite his orders? He could lie about it or omit the information, but this was the NSA and it was true, they did know everything. If they didn't, they could access information one way or another.

Clean up was still outstanding and he had to head out of Miami the first chance he had. So he headed back to his place to gather his equipment. He was a pro and cleaned the place where he had been watching Lorenzo in less than thirty minutes. He watched Lorenzo's building. There was no commotion or hubbub. The authorities weren't aware he was dead yet. It was just the way he liked it, but soon someone would come looking. Ben looked through his high-powered binoculars from 10 stories up and saw the possible cameras that might have footage of him with Annie. He made note of them before leaving the apartment. Next he drove to the address Annie had given him.

Ben parked two blocks away and carried an empty duffel bag in a brown paper grocery bag and another grocery bag filled with cleaning supplies. It was easy to pick the locks and enter into Annie's apartment. He noted that there were no security cameras or street cameras on the quiet street around the apartment. Good choice Annie, he thought. Once inside, he saw that it was already pretty clean. It was likely that she had already started wrapping up, preparing to leave as soon as her night was over. Annie's suitcase lay open on the bed, partially packed, she was probably hoping to make it back to change and then head for the airstrip. A casual outfit of an oversized sweater and leggings lay folded next to the suitcase. A necklace of a circle of diamonds lay on top of the shirt as if waiting for her to return. The necklace to the trained eye looked genuine, delicate and made with real diamonds.

Ben headed to the fridge, there were bottles of water, old pressed juice , yogurt, and a ready made salad. He kept the juice and put the rest of it in the trash. He took a container of industrial wipes out of his grocery bag and began to wipe down the inside and outside of the fridge and the entire kitchen counter, all the switches and all the appliances. He headed to the bathroom with the trash bag. He emptied the bathroom trash and put all the towels Annie had used into the trash bag as well. He checked the floor for stray hairs and deposited them in the toilet. He gathered what she had on the counter, but stopped when he saw one of those pill boxes, Sun-Sat. The rest of the day's medicine was still inside it. There was a green pill, a white pill and what looked like a vitamin. The next days left in the week had a green pill, two white pills and the vitamin-like pill. He wondered what they were for. He put all that was on the counter into the toiletry bag and put it inside her suitcase.

Not sure if he needed to or not, he stripped the sheets to be safe and cleaned every surface in the small studio before exiting the apartment. He walked back to his car and drove to a seedier part of Miami where he looked for a dumpster.

Ben found a suitable dumpster, it was one he had predetermined when planning his own exit. He dumped everything from Annie's place until he got to Annie's suitcase. He hesitated. Then took it out and heaved it inside along with the trash bag from Annie's apartment. He drove another distance and emptied the items from his own apartment. Ben drove towards the freeway to get to the airport. The drive took him past the dumpster where he tossed Annie's belongings. He wasn't sure what compelled him. It was as if he had no control over the steering wheel. He found himself alongside the dumpster for the second time that night. Without further thought, he exited the car and retrieved Annie's suitcase, the one he had just placed in the dumpster less than 10 minutes ago. He abandoned his car after wiping it down and took a cab to Miami International where he had a couple of hours to wait before the first flight out of Miami boarded. Annie's suitcase became part of his luggage as he checked in for a flight back to New Orleans, his home base for the last few years.

/

Ben crashed on his couch for a couple of hours after returning to his home at Algiers Point. He owned his small home that was converted into a duplex. It was far away from the frenzy of the French Quarter and Bourbon Street, but close enough if he wanted to have a wild time. When Ben woke up he poured himself a high ball of whiskey and stared at Annie's suitcase on his coffee table. He took a sip of his drink as he laughed at himself and shook his head. What the hell was he doing? He took another sip as he contemplated what to do. When they parted there was no indication she wanted to keep in touch. It was good-bye and onto their separate lives, except. . . he had much he wanted to say, much he attempted to say, but didn't. With that thought, Ben downed the rest of his shot and proceeded to unzip Annie Walker's suitcase. He looked through the contents carefully. He knew about the items he tossed in, besides those were a pair of flats, skimpy beach wear, flip flops, a low cut black dress, cheap accessories and lingerie. He piled it all neatly on his coffee table. Everything was ordinary, part of her cover to get into the high-end escort service run by the Cartel. The only things that were probably hers was the outfit she picked out for her return, the necklace, and her pills.

Once he reached the bottom of the suitcase, he saw a spot where he undid the seam to find her identification, cash and credit cards. She was traveling under the name, Abigail Elkind.

Ben packed Annie's belongings the way he found them. He could look her up and have the suitcase delivered it to her, the necklace was expensive and probably sentimental or he could just give it to her in person. It made for a good excuse to check up on her, but how would she receive him? And he was the one who asked her to keep their meeting from the agency, why would he go and risk the ramifications of contact with Annie Walker? It was not an option. He found a padded envelope in one of his desk drawers and dropped the necklace inside. He scribbled a note: Figured this was special. Take care, BM. He decided to mail it to Langley.

/

Ben received a ping on a message board. It was time to get paid. He traveled to a famous café in the French Quarter. It was also filled with tourists and locals alike. He sat with his newspaper and his chicory latte. Another man soon joined him with his own latte and a plate of beignets.

He passed Ben a pastry box filled with cash, "Some for the road."

"Thanks."

"Anything else you want to tell me?" Ben sighed. So much for his plan to omit talking with Annie entirely.

"I had no choice. He was going to hurt her badly."

"Always the hero huh? She's a covert operative for crying out loud, she knows the risk. From her service record she's kills at her job, you should have let it play out."

"Whatever she was after, I knew it was big and she needed to accomplish her mission right? It was a satisfactory outcome for all of us."

"You're right, the intel she got is already in motion, but don't disobey orders again Winter."

Ben nodded. "You see, everything worked out."

"Not so well for her."

"What do you mean?" said Ben just as he was about to sip his latte.

"We've been monitoring the multi-agency op and the Task Force she works out of, it appears she was rushed to the hospital shortly after she returned to D.C., pretty banged up."

"She looked fine when I left her," said Ben.

"Internal injuries. I read up on her, she's one tough cookie, I sense that you knew that. . ." said the man looking Ben straight in the eye.

Ben didn't answer. His mind was elsewhere. Suddenly he knew he had to go see her. He had to make sure she was okay. He felt responsible for her injuries. He should have gotten to her sooner. Hell, if he had never approached her in Sri Lanka she might still be that idealistic gal restoring historic sites overseas.

"I took care of the cameras outside of Lorenzo's. Don't get so sloppy next time huh? We're done. You took out an enemy of the state, be proud," said the man before he got up and left.

/

Ryan was stuck in D.C. traffic while heading to the hospital, all the while cursing the EMTs refused to let him ride in the ambulance. At the time Ryan was too focused on Annie to realize they were whispering about him. Regarding the traffic, Ryan thought it must be yet another VIP or diplomat in town. He was frustrated, but there was nothing he could do. If he had his motorcycle he could weave through the traffic, but he was in his Porsche and there was nothing he could do but pass the time.

As he drove his mind wandered to the last night he spent with Annie before she left. He had come home late and found her asleep in bed with a book opened on her chest. He bought her an e-book last Christmas which she traveled with to lighten her load, but when she was home, he learned early in their relationship that she preferred actual books which made her all the more adorable to him because he too loved holding a book in his hands and turning the crisp pages and smelling the paper. He turned off her bedside light after he removed his tie and started unbuttoning his shirt. He took the book off her chest. She opened her eyes and smiled. "You're home," as he kissed her good-night. "It's late, go back to sleep." He wished for all the lost moments back. He wished he had been home for dinner that night. She was up and out of the house before he woke up. She left him an insulated mug of hot coffee and a note, "Love you, see you in a few days," with hearts scribbled on it.

/

Ryan found open parking spot. The ambulance had arrived ahead of him. He went to the ER and demanded to be with Annie.

"Are you immediate family?" asked the registration nurse.

"No, she's my fiancé."

"I'm sorry, but I see here that the patient's emergency contacts are listed as August Anderson and Joan Campbell."

There were only agency contacts. That means there must be a flag on Annie too.

"What? I'm the one who found her."

"Please just wait over there sir,"

Ryan refused to go to the waiting room. He stood by the registration desk pacing and worrying about Annie. He saw police officers had arrived. They spoke to the same nurse he had spoken to earlier and she pointed in his direction. One of them went back with the nurse and the other walked in his direction.

"Sir?"

"Yes?"

"I understand you found the victim at her apartment?"

"Her name is Annie Walker and she is my fiancé, can you get me in to see her please?"

"No, I have a few questions for you first."

"Well not until my questions are answered, how's my fiancé?"

"Sit down and calm down."

Ryan's impatience couldn't be contained. He tried to walk past the officer to get to the nurse's station.

"I said sit down." Boomed a firm and serious voice. The officer had his had on his holster.

"Can you explain how the victim received her injuries?"

"Believe me, I want to find that out myself. Annie just returned from a trip. Her boss called me to see if I had heard from her. I didn't even know she was back in town. I called her repeatedly and when I didn't hear from her I went to her apartment and that's where I found her. I want to see her."

"You won't be seeing her until we can speak to her. I have a few more questions for you."

"Wait, do you think I did that to her?" shouted Ryan.

"Your fiance's injuries are consistent with battery. Your anger now isn't helping you. We're doing our jobs, getting to the bottom of this and when the victims aren't able to speak for themselves. . . "

"Officer Cazenov," called out the other officer.

"Yep?"

"We're done here." Ryan looked up and saw Joan Campbell next to the other officer.

The officer questioning Ryan walked over to his partner leaving Ryan befuddled and confused.

Ryan tried to listen to the officers speaking with Joan at the nurse's desk. All he could make out that stopped him in his tracks was, "rape kit," and he put his hands on his head and heard the words over and over again. "She showered, it makes it inadmissible in court."

"I want to see my fiancé!" demanded Ryan.

Joan had walked in with a couple of men by her side. She flashed an FBI identification badge and said she was there to take over the investigation. "The person in question is government employee and I'm her emergency contact. This man is indeed her fiancé."

"Ma'am, we have some questions about her injuries."

"Sure."

Joan looked at McQuaid and told him to "Cool it and wait for me over there."

"Where's the patient?"

The nurse answered and Joan spoke to the two men. They went to stand by Annie's door where they continued talking in hushed whispers.

"You never should have been called. Her file is clear, she's a federal officer and all news about her should be cleared through our offices first. She was on an assignment when this happened to her and we'd like to keep it under wraps due to the nature of our work," said Joan with authority.

"I'm sorry ma'am, the ambulance alerted us when they picked her up and ascertained that her injuries were consistent with domestic violence and possible sexual assault."

"How soon can she be transferred?"

"Once she's stable."

/ /

Joan walked over to Ryan whose head was in his hands as his elbows rested on his knees. His head was throbbing and his jaw was tight from clenching. The anger that boiled inside him combined with worry and anxiety over Annie's prognosis were palpable.

"It got pretty bad for her didn't it? I can't even get in to see her Joan."

"Let me go see her first, I need to arrange for her transport out of here."

A thousand things ran through is head. Annie. He didn't want to think about someone hurting her, was she safe, transport, safety, he could take care of all of that. He had to take back control. He felt like he was spiraling.

"She's not safe here? I can get some guys over here in no time. Joan I heard them say. . .they were going to perform a rape kit. . .what kind of trouble did you send her into?"

"Ryan, we still don't know what really happened. It's a precaution, protocol we always take. She's tough, sometimes too tough for her own good and that's why she went home instead of straight to Walter Reed. Let me see what I can find out."

"Get me in to see her. Now."

Joan went to speak to the hospital staff again and Ryan despite Joan's orders to remain in the waiting area followed her. The doctor on duty, one contracted by the CIA apologized. He saw the flag on Annie when she arrived, but it was too late. The EMTs had notified the police already based on the injuries. He confirmed that they were consistent with sexual assault, but that the victim was refusing a rape kit and was deemed unable to answer about questions regarding what had happened to her. Annie was sticking to the covers she had been trained to maintain.

"Doctor, that means she's conscious now."

"Barely. The blows inflicted. . . resulted in a ruptured spleen and internal bleeding. She also has two fractured ribs and a concussion. We may need to go in and drain the blood and stitch up her spleen. We're monitoring her now, the next 24-48 hours are critical. She'll be moved to the ICU soon."

"Her heart! The antibiotics, she probably hasn't taken them," remembered Ryan suddenly.

"This is the patient's fiancé, Ryan McQuaid, would you see about adding him as a visitor and contact person?"

"The staff knows and she's been given the needed meds."

"She was on a three hour flight. I should have had her get medical attention from her location."

"She's lucky. Now if you can talk to her about that rape kit, it appears she has showered, that makes it inadmissible in a court of law, but you and I both know you can still use the DNA procured from a rape kit."

"I'll see what I can do."

Joan kept looking at Ryan during the exchange. He looked to be shell-shocked. On his part, he still couldn't believe the police actually thought he had something to do with hurting Annie, but they were just doing their jobs. He realized what it must be like for them and other battered and assaulted women. Again the images in his head turned to Annie's badly beaten body and then his imagination took him to scenes of Annie getting beaten and possibly raped. His fists tightened and his jaws came together as well. He had to snap out of this. She needed him. He needed to be there for her.

"Let's go," ordered Joan.

Before they reached the room, Joan stopped him with her hand.

Ryan was trying hard to take everything in without losing it. The image of his life, his sunshine lying on the floor of the shower was not something he wanted to keep reliving, but he kept going there. . .the last time he saw her and her battered body.

"Ryan, you know Annie operates in an unpredictable and often dangerous world, sometimes in our line of work, things get blurred and as an operative we have to do things, we have to make choices that we're trained to push down when we return to our real lives. . . the lives that matter most to us. Do you understand what I'm saying?"

"No, I don't."

"She may not want to talk about what happened Ryan. . . not with you or anyone."

Ryan took his hand and rubbed it down his entire face from his forehead to his chin. "I want her to get that rape kit done, I want to nail the son of a bitch who . . ." Honestly, Ryan didn't know what happened to Annie, he imagined the worst thing a man could do to a woman and he felt nothing but rage. Enough rage to pick up the wheelchair in the hall and hurl it, but he had to control himself.

"You know who her hurt her Joan, if you don't drag his ass in, I'm going use every resource I have to . . ."

"Ryan, that's about you and not about her."

"If I know Annie Walker, I know she'll want to do the same."

Joan sighed. "Let me talk to her first." Joan knew Lorenzo was the one, but she couldn't very well drag him in and she couldn't let Ryan go off looking for revenge not while operations resulting from the intel Annie gathered were happening all over the country.

"Why? So you can talk about the agency's spin on this? She's my life, she's my fiancé Joan. I need the truth and I need to be by her side."

"Careful Ryan, I'm the one who got you access to Annie and I can easily take that away," threatened Joan. She needed to stall him for at least the next few hours.

"Don't fuck with me Joan!"

Her phone had been ringing off the hook.

"I'm going to forget that and your tone under the circumstances. My focus is on Annie right now, not your need for retribution. And let's all stay calm until we know more."

Ryan stood down and shook his head, he knew when to let a battle go. He let Joan in first though he was anxious to see Annie, truthfully he needed a moment to calm down.

/

His phone rang, it was a McQuaid Securities line.

"McQuaid."

"It's Arthur. How is she?"

"I wouldn't know, I haven't gotten to see her yet," his voice cracked a bit under the strain. "She's tough you know that."

"Your wife is in there now, I wasn't even listed as one of her emergency contacts."

"I'm sure it's just something Annie didn't get around to yet."

Those words, "didn't get around to yet" echoed in Ryan's mind. Would there be other things they didn't get around to? He was going to make sure they lived each moment to the fullest when she got out of the hospital. In moments like this he regretted every moment he worked late or went in early and all the cross moods that he was in when they were together. He could tell a lot was on her mind lately. He knew she was working a tough case and he sensed the weight of it on her shoulders, but she didn't share much with him.

"What do you have for me?"

"Something big, she was working on something big. I couldn't find out much more except she was someone every law enforcement agency was counting on for info on the Ortega Cartel's human trafficking. Everyone is either out of the office or not returning calls or completely tight lipped right now. I think something is going down as we speak. I'll keep my ears open."

"Thanks Arthur."

"She's strong, she'll come out of this Ryan."

/ /

"Annie? Annie?" said Joan as she put her hand on Annie's shoulder.

The woman lying in the hospital bed had two IVs coming out of her and wires hooked up to a machine that read her heartbeat and blood pressure.

Her eyes fluttered for a few seconds as she tried to wake herself up. She was using all the willpower she could muster to fully wake up and take in her surroundings.

Annie's mouth was incredibly dry, her lips felt chapped, but she managed to eek out, "How did I. . ."

"You don't remember?"

Annie shook her head as the pain she felt throughout her body reached her consciousness with the slight movements she tried to make. She was aware instantly of the bandage around her torso, the IV in her wrist, and the catheter in her to catch her urine. She tried to recall what happened, but she couldn't remember anything past the last time she saw Joan.

Joan came out with it, "Annie, the doctors want you do a rape kit."

Suddenly her focus on the present disappeared as she flashed back to what happened on her recent mission. Images flooded back into her head. She closed her eyes to try to remember more details. Then she saw him. Ben. Everything he said came back to her. She knew he was right. Joan couldn't know.

Annie started to shake her head.

"What? That's not. . .no rape kit." she managed to say before trying to swallow to take away the dryness in her mouth.

"I know things got hairy during the op, but did he. . .were you . . .raped by Lorenzo?"

Annie shook her head and Joan sighed with relief.

"Have the raids. . ."

Annie winced in pain as she shifted her body. She looked down and it registered that the IV tubes were red. Joan followed her eyes.

Joan spoke up, "Work should be the last thing on your mind Annie. You've done your part. You've done good work as always Annie." Her brows furrowed and she let out a labored breath.

Joan continued, "You needed a blood transfusion. You have a ruptured spleen and fractured ribs along with internal bleeding."

"Water? Can I. . "

"I'll ask on my way out. I have to get back to the office. We're going to move you, I'll come see you when everything is over."

Joan reached for the button to push more morphine. She knew Annie wouldn't use it so she pressed the button. Annie felt the cold rush of painkillers run up her arm and gave Joan a look. Nothing needed to be said about it. She was thankful actually, it hurt her too much to move, to even reach the button would have caused her excruciating pain.

In a weak voice she said, "I want it to mean something Joan."

"I assure you it does. Everything you've done has meant something to the agency and to this country. Annie, Ryan's outside."

"How?"

"I had to, you weren't answering your phones and I was worried. I had no one to locate you at the time, things were moving fast based on your intel. Annie, he found you in your apartment and got you here. Any longer and you might not have made it. He saved your life and to top that he was just accused of abusing you by the cops."

Annie was trying hard to stay awake. The morphine was making her sleepy.

"Can you remember anything at all about what happened that can help the team I'm sending?"

Annie shook her head.

"I don't want him to see me like this. . . ."

"Accept his love and care, it's what you need in times like this. I'm going to put some men outside to make sure you're safe."

Annie nodded before the weight of her eyelids took over and she fell asleep.

/ /

Once outside, Joan could see that Ryan continued his pacing. "How is she?"

"She's pretty banged up and in a lot of pain. You heard the doctor, she has a ruptured spleen."

Ryan was bracing himself to see her.

"What did she say about what happened?"

"It's Annie, she didn't say much. You know her natural tendency is to retreat into her shell, to withdraw and push people away, don't let her do that to you no matter what she says or does."

Ryan understood what Joan was trying to say. Annie was naturally reticent, he was still at times trying to figure out if she was naturally that way or had developed the habit as a result of her work as a covert operative. She had tried to push him away more than once, but he never let her succeed. He knew each time she tried to end their liaison she was doing so to protect him more than to protect herself. He loved that about her, her need to shield those she loved. He never let her give up on them or on herself. He wasn't going to let her do it now, not after they had come so far and not when their wedding was just four months away.

"What about the rape kit? I want to nail the asshole who did this to her."

Joan shook her head, "She said she wasn't raped."

While Ryan wanted to feel relief, he was hesitant. "And you believed her?"

"I had no reason not to."

Ryan was livid, Annie was known to lie, to keep things from the agency if she felt it jeopardized her job or her standing.

"How in the hell do you send her on a mission as dangerous as this with no back-up? Who in the hell was her handler?"

Joan knew Ryan, he wanted blood, anyone's blood at this point, even Joan's if he could and she couldn't blame him. "I understand you're angry, I'm angry too, but in our line of work, sometimes operatives work best alone. She was completely solo on this one. It was _straightforward and simple_."

"You had bad intel if you thought it was straightforward. Nothing about her line of work is simple Joan."

"Annie knew that too, she made plans for her exit."

"She's in fucking bad shape for straightforward. . . wait what do you mean by exit?" said Ryan with a sarcastic bite.

"She didn't tell you?" Joan looked at her watch. "I need to get back to Langley. These men will stay until Annie's surgery is done, then we'll transport her to a military hospital. I need to get some people on the scene Annie left."

What did Joan mean thought Ryan.

"I'm sending one of my guys with yours."

"That's not necessary."

"I wasn't asking."

"You have absolutely NO authority, that's the end of it Ryan, focus on Annie."

"Wait, what did you mean she was looking for an exit?"

"She'll wake up and she can tell you herself."

Joan left the hospital room and got on the phone as soon as she could. So far Annie couldn't remember much. She had to send a team to see what they could find out and if there was anything to clean up in Miami.


	6. Chapter 6

Note: THANKS for the encouragement to keep going. I added a bit and will drag it out a little longer, but prob not much more. CA is on reruns on Universal. I should be grading but cleaned this up. Hope it moves you. . . ENJOY! And please tell me what you think!

Joan whipped out her cell phone the second she left Annie's side. "Send a team to Annie's safehouse in Miami. Track her phone for the duration she was down there and pinpoint all her locations to make sure there's nothing linking her back to Lorenzo. The safety of our operative is paramount."

"She had a cover for the agency, should we maintain that cover?" asked the man at the other end.

"Wipe everything, even her cover."

"Yes, ma'am!"

/

Meanwhile in New Orleans. . .

Ben returned stopped by a safe deposit box and put a third of his stash in. He placed another third at his house and carried the rest on him. He was anxious. He was distracted and didn't realized he was being followed.

He cleaned himself up. He shaved the scruff that he allowed to grow while on his mission and packed a light carry-on. He also brought Annie's luggage and was on the first plane to D.C. he could get a seat on. He used the resources at his disposal and knew that a woman fitting Annie's description was taken to a D.C. emergency room that morning. He also knew CIA protocol and was betting on the fact that she would be moved in Walter Reed. He knew that place. It reminded him of her.

Ben had avoided D.C., he hadn't been there in many years. It reminded him too much of Annie. Just as he was about to press on the key to his rental car, his boss appeared.

"What the hell? Where did you come from?"

"I could say the same Winter."

Ben sighed. "You're having me watched?"

"You are being predictable. That's a bad thing for a spy you know."

"I was alerted that you were on your way and wanted to take advantage."

"Advantage of what exactly?" asked Ben as he loaded his bags.

"You're here to see your ex-girlfriend?" The man looked at the suitcase Ben had in his hand.

"I could lay into you for dozens of reasons, but it's your lucky day."

"What are you talking about?"

"She's caught our attention. We want her."

"Excuse me?"

"We think she'd be a good asset. Someone inside the CIA."

"No. No way. We're supposed to work together."

"Her record is colored, but her past is one that could come in handy. Don't you want to work with her? You two would make a great team."

"She won't ever work with me."

"That's where we need you to work that charm Winter. She loved you once, enough to join the CIA in search of you. I say those feelings don't go away."

"Well they have for her, she's been through a lot and it's not like she's been pining away for me."

"Just make the offer, make it worth her while because if the CIA finds out about you, they'll throw her ass out and drag yours in."

"You can't do this."

"Oh yes, I can and if you want to keep your job and your good standing with us and any other American agency, you'll help recruit her."

Truthfully the idea of working with Annie excited him more than anything had over the years, so he nodded in agreement though he despised the way it was being presented to him.

/

Ryan put his hand on the door handle to Annie's hospital room, although he had been eager to be by Annie's side, he felt dread too. While he waited for Joan his mind wandered to the first time he saw her lying unconscious in Venezuela and the regret that filled him as his motorboat approached the dock. If he hadn't been petty and left her handcuffed. . . if he had insisted that they work together despite her protests, his former operative Borz Altan wouldn't have hurt her. Then again, he saw that Borz was lying unconscious too, she had gotten to the bastard before him after all. This was the tension he often faced with Annie; he teetered between _anxiety_ for her safety and _awe_ at her amazing capabilities in the field. She truly was one of the best he had met in the intelligence world and he had crossed paths with many.

After taking a deep breath, he opened the door to her room and saw her golden hair first. Her face was turned away from him. The hospital bed was elevated to a reclining position and the morning sunlight streamed in from the window creating a halo around her hair. She had become everything to him.

When his wife died, he worked his butt off and rose in the ranks as a SEAL. Then he made the pivotal decision to leave the Navy family he formed, he worked for a time at the Pentagon and made a number of key contacts. After that he poured himself into building his company the last eight years. A tried and true workaholic until she came along. She was the sunrise and the sunset in his life now. In the beginning when he was helping her recover, she made him want to slow down and enjoy the things he didn't make time for, but during the last couple of months he fell back into a pattern of working hard and traveling often. His company had recovered and contracts were flowing in again, he was busier than he had been since before he met Annie. This event, Annie getting hurt like this was a wake up call for him to slow down.

Ryan walked over to the vinyl antimicrobial upholstered chair and pushed it close to her hospital bed as he looked her over. He saw that there were stitches along her hairline and the loosely fitting hospital gown revealed bruises along her neck. He felt so helpless. Images of finding her at the Russian Embassy in Paris and struggling in Azerbaijan flooded in his mind. Most recently he waited and paced during her surgery. He was the first to greet her when she woke up in post-op. It wasn't ever easy to see her struggle or be in pain, but this time was different. This time he wasn't there. He wasn't there and it ate at him.

He couldn't help her as he tried to imagine what she must have gone through. Anger returned as he clenched his jaw. He was always a believer in justice prevailing, revenge and retribution were never driving factors for him until things got personal. When Caitlyn betrayed him, he was hurt, he wanted to ask her why, he didn't want to see her dead, just brought to justice. When he and Annie hunted Belenko, he could care less if the man lived or died, he just wanted to get himself and Annie back home safely. He wasn't interested in killing him for what he had done, he just wasn't interested in keeping him safe from the Russians. He made the distinction. But now, seeing his beloved Annie lying there, hooked to monitors, two IVs of clear liquids and one of blood, all he felt was rage. In that moment, he would murder the man who hurt her if he got his hands on him. His fists were clenched and his knuckles had turned white. Then he heard a faint moan come from her. He had to stop, he knew he had to stop to focus on her and put on a cheerful face.

Ryan sat down in the chair he had pushed over. Annie stirred, she was vaguely aware someone had entered the room, but was in a fog from her injuries and the meds.

Something had been off the last few weeks thought Ryan. Sure he was busy and they saw little of each other, what time they had was spent on wedding plans. Annie was acting normal, but that was it, he felt like she was pretending that nothing was bothering her. He wondered if it was because he was working and traveling more than he had, but he never asked. She never complained. He did ask her a couple of times if everything as okay at work. All she said was, "It's a tough case, but will wrap up soon."

Together they had been gearing up for their wedding in their spare time. They had started their pre-marital counseling sessions a month ago and it was nothing short of enlightening and hope filled as they discussed the mundane aspects of marriage and family planning. He noticed she was going to the spa more than usual, she had her nails done all the time and was getting waxed. She even had highlights done which he never knew her to do in the time he had known her. It made him happy to see her put so much time and energy into getting ready for their wedding. Those memories managed to help him temper the rage he was feeling, but underneath it was a layer of regret that turned inward.

"I'm here Annie, you're going to be okay," he whispered as he touched her hand and then leaned down to kiss it, trying not to let his emotions take over. He repeated, "You're going to be okay" as if he were trying to convince himself. He wasn't a man who shed many tears in his lifetime, but he began to tear up as he spoke.

"I'm going to post my Harley -on Craigslist as soon as I can. I know I dragged my feet and I don't know why. You're right I have two others, I don't need three bikes and there should be room for yours in the garage once we're married..."

His voice choked when he said the last few words. He managed to swallow and cleared his sinuses. "I picked up the invitations. . . we were supposed to work on them remember?"

Ryan put his head down and did something he hadn't done in a long time. His shoulders began moving up and down as he cried silently. After a few moments he regained his composure. "I'm sorry Annie. I'm so sorry. I was pig headed about the caterers. I shouldn't have made fun of your idea for a barbequed ribs, fried chicken and an ice cream sundae bar. We are getting married around the 4th and casual and fun is totally you. You should get the wedding you want. I'm sorry for. . . I'm sorry I was being a bully about the white tablecloths, champagne and caviar. We were already keeping it so small, I wanted to go all out. I know that's not you and I'm sorry. Please, please just wake up and talk to me. Please, Annie," he pleaded.

A nurse entered as Ryan swiped the tears from his face. "I brought some ice chips. She said she was thirsty?"

Ryan cleared his throat and shook his head. "She hasn't said a thing."

"The lady who left said so. No food or drinks yet. We're waiting for surgeon to assess her before. . ."

"Do you know when she will wake up?"

"Let me try, but remember she'll be in and out. She has a concussion and has lost a lot of blood. Her body experienced some shock."

"Is she in a lot of pain?"

"It registered that she pressed the button for pain-killers so I came to check in. Please step aside for a moment."

"Ms. Walker? Ms. Walker" the nurse said loudly as she touched Annie's shoulder.

"I'm the nurse on duty, my name is Laura."

Annie's eyes fluttered.

"What's your pain like on a scale of 1-10?" she asked as she looked the monitors and then pulled back the sheets to check Annie's drains and catheter. Ryan could see that the bruises on Annie's upper thighs had grown purple and that her ribs had been bandaged.

Annie didn't answer but her eyes were trying to stay open. Her head moved so her eyes turned to Ryan. Her eyes followed his. She could see the look of helplessness and shock as he looked over her body. Annie tried to reach the sheets to pull them back over her, but she couldn't gather the strength. Ryan noticed what she was trying to do.

"Are you cold?"

Annie nodded.

"I can bring an extra blanket."

That really wasn't it. He knew she didn't want him to see her banged up body and he tried his best to keep the smile on his face. The nurse looked at Annie's urine output and removed the bag to drain in the bathroom.

Ryan took the sheet and pulled it up covering Annie's injuries. He took her hand.

"You didn't answer the nurse's question."

"3" said Annie weakly.

"Liar!" he quipped.

She smiled and winced. He was happy to see her awake and worried altogether.

"I'll adjust the machine so you can push more morphine. We started with a small amount," said the nurse.

"Thank you," said Ryan as the nurse left.

"Sorry. . ." she managed to eek out.

"What for?" asked Ryan.

She let out a weak smile. "You seeing me like this. . ."

"Shh. . .just rest. I'll be here."

"Go to work, I'm going to be okay," said Annie weakly.

"Not a chance Walker. You're more important to me than work."

He didn't let go of her hand as he sat back down. Annie was fighting to stay awake. Her mind had been working despite the pain. She had been trained to withstand interrogation, physical pain, and psychological pressure and the morphine was helping with the pain, but also making her terribly sleepy. She quickly calculated the pros and cons and decided she needed Ryan's help and she didn't want to lie to him anymore.

"I need…" she said before swallowing. He could see she was parched.

"The blanket is coming," said Ryan as he got out his Carmex and put it on Annie's lips. "Would you like some ice?" asked Ryan as he reached for the pitcher the nurse left and picked up a piece of ice with a spoon.

Annie took the ice, then started, "I. . . need you to. . ." Annie let out a breath in between.

"I'm here. Shhh. Rest."

"No, need favor."

"Annie you name it and I'll do it. . ." said Ryan who was puzzled. . . there was so much he wanted to ask of her, so much he wanted to say, but he wanted to take her lead and he was glad she was initiating. Before he walked in he had no idea what to expect. Joan said no to the rape kit, she said she had not been raped. Did she lie about being assaulted?

"Get ahead of Joan. Get to Miami before the agency, don't let her find any surveillance images of me after I left Lor…"

Her voice was slipping. . . and her eyes drooping. . . "Annie?"

He didn't want to, but he shook her to keep her awake, he needed to know where to look otherwise it would be like a needle in a haystack. "After you left where?"

"Lorenzo's penthouse, South Bea. . ."

"Who is Lorenzo, what am I looking for Annie?" Ryan was worried, why was she trying to hide things from Joan? What was going on?

"I wasn't alone, Joan thinks. . . " said Annie before drifting off, unable to stay conscious.

The nurse returned with two extra blankets. "I have an extra for you sir since it looks like you'll be here for a while."

"I'm not sure if she's unconscious or asleep."

"She's had a concussion and is on a lot of meds, but you can talk to her. It helps to know someone is here by her side."

After the nurse left, Ryan tried to wake her again, but no luck.

/

Ryan walked to the window in Annie's room and hit speed dial for one of his trusted friends and operatives.

"Fitz?"

"Hey, up for a drink after work before the ball and chain returns?"

"I need you in Miami NOW to look into a man named Lorenzo in the database. Then get all the security footage in and around his building for the last 48 hours."

"That's all? Sounds like a piece of cake. Got it."

"After you copy the footage, I need you to scrub it."

"What am I looking for?"

"Annie, anything having to do with Annie."

"The CIA is on their way too. I need you there now."

"What's going on?"

Hearing his good friend ask a question he didn't know the answer to caused emotions to come crashing down on him. There was a slight crack in his voice when he responded, "I don't know man, that's why I need you. I'm at the hospital now."

Fitz knew Ryan well, they served together on a couple of SEAL missions years ago. Ryan recruited him when he left after an injury that nearly crippled him.

"Hospital? Is she okay?"

"Call me when you're on the ground."

"Moving now," said Fitz, the seriousness of the assignment just went up a thousand-fold in his eyes.


	7. Chapter 7

Note: Thank you all so much for the reviews. It means a lot to me! I am trying to wrap this one up b/c it was meant to be short. I have been thinking about posting and writing so much, but life has been busy. I hope to have some time over the upcoming holidays. Keep letting me know what you think. ; ) Next up Ben and Ryan will meet. . .

Someone entered the bustling conference room noisily causing everyone to look up momentarily before going back to their respective conversations when they saw that it was a low-level employee.

Joan looked up from the group she was discussing some intel with. "What is it Eric?" she asked while studying Barber who stood in the doorway looking around, hesitant to enter a room full of the big shots. He looked concerned and the nervous energy that accompanied him seemed more pronounced than usual.

Barber walked closer to Joan looking around while hugging the files he had in his possession as if he needed to guard them even though he was in the safest possible place he could be.

Joan stood up and walked to a corner of the room where Eric followed and then began talking in a hushed whisper. "Uh, Annie's mission didn't include putting bullets in Lorenzo did it?"

Joan shook her head as if she heard wrong and looked at him with brows furrowed. "Are you saying he's dead?"

He nodded and then continued, "We've been monitoring Miami PD's scanners and Lorenzo's chauffeur called it in, the bastard is dead on the scene, police are swarming the place, the coroner just arrived."

"Annie didn't have a weapon on this mission. . ." said Joan. She began to think about her last conversation with Annie who seemed affected in a way that was unexpected to Joan. Could something have pushed her over the edge? It wouldn't be unlike Annie to decide that she needed to take Lorenzo out.

"Could it have been self-defense, I mean he hurt her pretty badly didn't he?"

Joan nodded, unsure what to think. "Do you know what kind of weapon?"

"No, details yet, I just wanted to know if she had another objective, I wasn't cleared to know, I mean I still don't know the link to foreign intelligence in this case, but. . . ." rambled Eric.

Joan gave him a tired and annoyed look. "You said _bullets_?" Joan continued trying to wrap her head around what could have happened.

"Yes ma'am, multiple gun shots is what the police scanners indicated."

"Who did you send to clean up her place? Get them over there, find out if there's any footage to fill in the blanks and get me details. I want the coroner's report. Annie's still in critical condition, we can't wait around for her to recover to get to the bottom of this."

"I'm rooting for her. . .if I may say something," said Eric nervously.

"Go ahead," said Joan who was mentally planning when she could get back to the hospital.

"Lorenzo being dead. . . I don't think anyone over here is going to mourn over that."

"Eric, if there's intelligence to be had, we need to get it. _Dead does us no good_. We're not the judge and jury. It's our job to go over where things went off script so it doesn't happen again and he is the link to foreign intelligence. Find out if he was killed while Annie was there or after, it matters. If any details link back to our operative, she's not going to be safe."

"Got it, I'll have someone go to the scene and I'll get a full report of what the sweep team finds."

"Thanks, and you are on your way to the next level of clearance Eric. You've done great work for the Task Force. It's just busy now, you'll be read in after the dust settles. Keep focusing on your job."

"Yes, ma'am," said Eric leaving with more bounce in his step than he entered with.

/

Annie was taken into surgery to drain fluid build-up. The surgeon said it would be quick, routine in cases like Annie's. Even though he assured Ryan that Annie was stable and stated evidence that all her vitals had normalized and remained stable for the last two hours, he was still worried about her going into surgery. "Sir, I understand your worry, it is a small incision, we drain the fluid and then we're done. She'll be back in the room in two hours tops."

"Can I be with her before then?"

"Usually, we just have medical staff at post-op, but I'll make sure you can wait in post-op and be with her," said the surgeon.

"And how does this affect her transfer to Walter Reed?"

"It's been arranged for later tonight, so that will us a good 6-8 hours of monitoring before she's put in an ambulance. And the ambulance will be fully equipped and staffed with a trauma nurse."

Ryan nodded.

"I'll be out as soon as we're done to escort you to post-op," said the surgeon who was aware of Annie's status as a CIA agent.

"Thank you."

While waiting Ryan alternated from standing and sitting after the surgeon left. There were others milling about waiting like him. Waiting wasn't something Ryan was innately good at, but the NAVY trained him to wait, to hold his breath, to handle immeasurable stress, and to be positive, to see the end in sight, to know that he could overcome. The only thing different in this case was how helpless he felt. None of this was in his control and he was used to control. The only thing he could do was wait and his thoughts went to their last Saturday brunch.

Annie had been quiet after leaving their pre-marital course for their weekly brunch on the last Saturday they were together. Ryan could tell her mind was somewhere else. Maybe it was her current project. She had been preoccupied the last couple of weeks. She said it was work, a tough assignment, but that things would quiet down soon and right in time for their wedding. Normally they didn't speak much about their work. They agreed to maintain distance to avoid causing each other too much anxiety and they agreed to maintain the confidentiality that their work required by not asking questions.

When each went on missions, they agreed unless someone was dying only the party away would initiate communications. Ryan rarely went into the field these days, but he did make trips to visit clients in conflict zones from time to time. Even though she never expressly asked him, he made it a point to call or Skype her daily even if it was to leave a message if he couldn't get to her at a decent hour. He knew she lost people she had loved causing her to be guarded so he didn't want her to worry about him. As a covert operative it was more problematic for Annie to make contact while on missions. She had to maintain her cover and calling him put her in danger. No news was good news when Annie was away. Ryan usually didn't answer numbers he didn't recognize preferring to let the calls go to voicemail, but once he and Annie were a thing, a real thing, he always answered a number he didn't recognize if she was on a mission knowing that she could call from anywhere.

That particular Saturday they wound up at a new brunch place they read about in the previous Sunday's paper. She casually said, "We should try it sometime, they're known for their biscuits and gravy," so he drove them there after they left their pre-marital counseling session. He remembered nearly everything she ever said to him. She looked over at him when he parked and she noted they weren't near any of their usual brunch spots. "Where are we going?"

"You're always saying we should change it up a little. Let's try that place we read about in the paper last week." She smiled with that surprised look that spread across her face whenever he did something unexpected. He looked forward to a lifetime of seeing that look of hers. He loved surprising her in small ways because she wasn't about extravagance.

Ryan remembered looking up from his menu, he could tell Annie's eyes were on her menu, but it didn't look like she was reading, she was lost in thought. She looked up and past him unaware that he had been watching her, God how he loved to watch her doing mundane things. She was beautiful because she didn't know it and he felt like the luckiest guy in the world to have found love like that a second time. He was convinced that she always knew he was watching her, but not that day, she was off somewhere else. They didn't engage in their usual negotiations and discussions over what to order. Ryan was waiting for her to ask him what he was thinking about ordering. Then he would ask her. And if both wanted a savory item, they would then debate who would order the sweet item. It never really mattered, they always ate off each other's plates or brought a bite to the other's mouths. Maybe it was just a trait of new couples, couples "in love", but even a military man like McQuaid had soft spots. It was the ritual of it that Ryan enjoyed. It was her laugh and smile each time they went through the routine. But when the waiter came and asked if they were ready to order, she nodded in affirmation and simply said, "Biscuits and gravy with scrambled eggs please." So he ordered the waffles with warm fruit compote. No debate or comments from Annie. She was looking over at a table across the way. "And a side of bacon too," he added as he followed her eyes. He thought she might make a comment about the bacon which she sometimes chided him for eating too much of. . . , but nothing. She turned to look at him and reached out to touch his hand. "Oh sorry, I figured we read the article about the biscuits and gravy and that's why you wanted to come, is it okay that I ordered it?" She was back from where she was lost in thought, it seemed. He simply brought her hand to his and kissed it. "I'm expecting to eat half of it, so it's fine."

Things were off that whole morning, she seemed far away again as they drank their coffee and waited for their brunch dishes to arrive. He wondered if it wasn't work, but the upcoming topic of family planning and the homework to complete a parenting styles questionnaire. Did it spook her? If he were honest, it excited him. He wanted so much to be a father and parenthood meant their partnership would be complete as they would be raising another human being together. He wanted to ask her about that day now. . .

The buzzing of Ryan's phone stirred him from his daydreaming in the waiting area.

It was Fitz.

"What do you have?" answered Ryan.

"Looked up this Lorenzo character and he's nothing but trouble, human trafficking, according to our database, but get this, he's entered the world of arms trafficking. He's been to Lebanon and Egypt recently. What's a mid-level South American cartel member doing in Lebanon and Egypt? Not sight-seeing. . ." said Fitz.

"Did you find any info on Annie?"

"She's still not awake?" asked Fitz with concern.

"She's having a small procedure to drain some fluid," said Ryan.

Fitz could hear the heaviness in his friend's voice. "I'm sorry man."

"Did you find anything on area surveillance?"

"No, either they beat me to it, which I doubt, or someone scrubbed the surveillance real time and get this boss, Lorenzo is dead, looks like he's been dead for hours."

Ryan sighed, and put his hand to his temple, he was thinking. . .dead? Annie had killed before on missions, but it was always personal. Did she have a link to this Lorenzo? Who was it she was with that Joan didn't know about? Was it her mission to kill him too? Maybe that was what had been bothering her. . . suddenly a thought came to Ryan.

"Do me a favor, search the vicinity for a place to buy cheap souvenirs."

"You want me to bring you back a key chain?" asked an unbelieving Fitz.

"No you meathead," chuckled Ryan. It was the first time he laughed all day.

"Annie came back with a cheap touristy sweatshirt, grey hoodie with Miami written across the front. See if that helps."

"You got it boss," said Fitz before hanging up.

Ryan went back to waiting for Annie to come out of her surgery.

/

"There's nothing much to cover up Ma'am," said Eric.

"What do you mean?" asked Joan.

"We found little. No video surveillance near the scene, no sign of another person reported or recorded at Lorenzo's penthouse, nothing at the operative's Miami safehouse. It was as if no one had been there, smelled clean, not a piece of trash. The first she shows up is at the airstrip."

"And the time of death for Lorenzo?"

"Between 1-3 a.m. is what the preliminary report says."

"Anything else?"

"We did obliterate her cover with the agency now that we have control over their network. No one will know she was sent to his apartment. Her cover apartment is clean as was protocol when Annie left there for Lorenzo's. She took UBER there under her cover name. We cleared the record of her ride. There is nothing that traces back to her that we could find."

"Okay, good work."

Joan was completely puzzled. She needed to talk to Annie, she planned on returning to the hospital on her way home from Langley.

/

Ben arrived in D.C. just before night fell. So much had happened in the last 24 hours. Accompanying him was Annie's suitcase that had traveled with him from Miami to New Orleans and now to D.C. He was back where he started years ago. Part of him wanted to go back to his small home in New Orleans and forget he ever ran into Annie Walker. She would be better off and he'd probably be more focused. His boss was right, being predictable is dangerous for a spy. Ben hated predictability, maybe that's why he didn't really try to make a go of it with Annie. But things were larger than him now.

Nothing surprised him in his line of work so it really wasn't a shock that his agency wanted him to recruit Annie. His boss gave him access to Annie's full and un-redacted service record. Ben spent an hour in his cheap motel room glued to the pages, it read like a spy novel. It was true even the most imaginative authors could not think up the things that people in his business had to go through and Annie was no exception. His boss was right, she would be an asset to the NSA. Annie had accomplished what few operatives had been able to do, entering Russia to assassinate a double agent and managing to escape? And killing a man who was once powerful and had access to tons of classified information that he wantonly abused? Ben abhorred, Henry Wilcox, but to learn that Annie Walker went dark to trap and kill him? That feat was a legend and everyone knew he was taken out despite the story that it was a mugging gone wrong. Not in a million years would Ben have guessed it was Annie who did it. He sat taking it all in for a few moments before he snapped out of it and took out a lighter to burn the files. But before he did, he stomped out the flames and removed a photo of Annie before he relit the files.

Ben donned a doctor's scrubs and white jacket and headed out. He located Annie's floor room in the D.C. hospital where she was rushed via ambulance. It was easy to find the room with the two guards standing outside. Ben observed a well-built man, smartly dressed man in a tailored suit on the phone outside Annie's room. He sported a fancy watch and there was faint recognition, but Ben couldn't quite place him. He definitely didn't look like "Langley". After some poking around on the floor, Ben learned about Annie's condition. She had just returned from surgery and wasn't due to be transported until later. He wasn't sure how best to approach or if he should wait until the morning and get on the transport team.

Ben lurked about more curious about the man who he saw go back inside Annie's room. He peeked in through the window and watched the man lower his head to Annie's hand. He kissed it and held it between his own two hands. It looked like he was praying over Annie. Then he looked up and started talking. Annie appeared unconscious. He couldn't very well convince her to work for the NSA if she wasn't awake, it obviously wasn't a good time to approach. Ben would have to wait until the man left her side. From where he was watching, it could take a long time.

/

Ryan received a set of pictures from Fitz. They were grainy, from the cheap surveillance camera the tourist shop had. But clearly it was Annie and a man who paid cash for her sweatshirt. Ryan didn't recognize him.

He walked outside Annie's room and called Fitz.

"Did you put him through facial rec?"

"Nothing. No one hit on any database that we have access to."

"Can you ask her yet?"

"No, not yet."

"She doesn't seem afraid of him and from the video it looks like they know each other. She walks with him and then they're out of view. I am looking for other cameras in the area," observed Fitz.

"Thanks Fitz. Copy and then delete what you find. . . until I know what this is about, I don't want anything linking Annie to the entire city of Miami or the state of Florida."

"Will do."

/

Ryan called Joan after he got off the phone with Fitz.

"What have you learned about how this happened to her Joan?"

"Not much I need to talk to her. How is she?"

"She's back from post-op and hasn't woken up from the anesthesia yet. Doctors say she's improved after the draining, but she's not awake yet,"

"So you haven't talked to her at all yet?"

Ryan hesitated. "What little she said before surgery was typical of her, she's still trying to be the strong one."

"I'll come by as soon as I leave Langley."

"There's no need Joan, she's still resting. Give her some space."

"I'll be there," said Joan before hanging up.

/

Ben was nearby and tried to get closer so he could make out what Ryan was saying. The only thing he managed to realize was who the man was, upon closer look he recognized him as Ryan McQuaid, the founder and CEO of a private security firm and defense contractor. This complicated Ben's mission of getting close to Annie and the next face he saw coming out of the elevator added another layer of challenge. It was Arthur Campbell, his former boss.


	8. Chapter 8

Note: I do not own any of these characters or the show CA. . . thanks again fellow CA and Ryan and Annie fans for reading and reviewing. I added some fluff just to prolong things a little. Another song of Adele's came out. Can't wait for the full album. Love this one just as much. Can't decide which song I love more, I feel another fanfic coming on as a result of When We Were Young, but will resist so I can get back to Detours & Annie's Demons. Prodigal, I have least fleshed out. . .

/

Ryan went back by Annie's bedside after being on the phone. She opened her eyes briefly after surgery and managed a smile, but the anesthesia was still in her system. She had not woken up since her return to her room from post-op. Ryan sat down and put his hand on top of hers. He started talking to her again, telling her what he was thinking about while he waited for her in surgery, then moving on to what Fitz had found so far as he stroked her hand with his thumb.

Annie had been semi-conscious a few times, but she couldn't summon up the strength to open her eyes. She heard Ryan's voice and she remembered the day he was talking about and he was right, she was preoccupied. There was a family sitting at the far end of the restaurant where they had brunch. The family included a happy bubbly toddler, definitely under two. She was making a mess feeding herself tiny bite-sized waffle pieces and fruit. The food was all over her face and only 1 out of 3 attempts made it into her mouth. The scene mesmerized Annie as she watched the mother and father laughing over the mess and giving the little girl smiles and positive reinforcement each time her little fork made it into her little mouth. And the look on the little girl's face when she was successful was priceless. She must be just learning how to use utensils.

Annie had never felt a longing or urge to be pregnant and to have a child. Watching her sister go through pregnancy and childbirth when she was in college deterred her from having those urges in her younger days, but now that she was nearly 35 and met a man she loved enough to settle down with, it started to bring up all sorts of desires in her. Ryan made her feel wonderful, secure, content, cared for and hopeful. And this premarital counseling course that Ryan insisted on taking. . . it gave her a lot to think about. She had never been in a healthy relationship that involved so much openness and discussion over everyday things. Annie was never in a "normal" relationship if she had to look back and dissect her past.

Ryan constantly surprised her with his willingness to go the distance with her and she was constantly surprised by the feelings he brought out in her. It took her a few weeks to realize this relationship had potential to last, she held back still, but the more she spent time with Ryan the harder it was to keep her distance and remain guarded. The attraction she felt for him grew though she had to admit that she fought it when they first met. He liked to joke with her about how he had her back in Maracaibo when he told her that she was entitled to a secret or two from the agency. But the soonest she would admit to having feelings for him was when she went meet him at the Arboretum while he was on the run. It was the first time she saw his vulnerability. It was raw and then she saw a determined look in his eye, one she recognized because she often had the same look. He wanted to suss out who framed him and she wanted nothing more than to help him.

/

Annie stirred, she continued hearing Ryan's voice and felt his hand, she smelled his after shave and willed her eyes open. Her body still felt sore in many places. She saw Ryan sitting by her. "Ryan," uttered Annie in a soft voice.

Surprised, a smile washed over Ryan when he lifted his head, "I'm here, I'm right here."

"I'm sure you have questions. . ," said Annie though it was hard to utter the words with her dry throat.

"They can wait Sunshine," said Ryan not taking his eyes off her as he squeezed her hand and reached to stroke her head.

Annie tried to reach for the buttons on her bed.

"I'll get the doctor to check on you," said Ryan as he helped her with the bed.

"No, not yet," she stopped his hand from pressing the button to call the nurse's desk.

Ryan looked at her and tears welled up. He started to hug her, but hesitated since she looked to be in pain. Instead he kissed her, he washed her face with kisses and then looked into her eyes. Though the doctors had assured him, he worried and wondered for hours.

"You're going to be okay? I thought . . . it looked like I was going to lose you and…" his voice trailed off and he stopped talking. He put his head down and everything came out, everything he held in while being strong for himself and for her. Annie rested her hand on his head, the head he dropped down next to her. She said quietly, "Shh. . I'm sorry I scared you. Shh. . . it's okay." Tears welled up in her eyes too as she remembered the things she had to do on this mission. The man before her loved her so unconditionally and yet he didn't really know all of her. Now was the time, she needed to absolve herself of her guilt and the weight of feeling undeserving of his love and worry.

"I'm okay, I need to talk to you before I fall asleep again,"

He lifted his head up and kissed her again, "Just rest. You're in bad shape," sniffed Ryan. "I'm sorry for breaking down."

Annie smiled weakly.

"Annie, you're my life and you can't get out of marrying me this way, you hear?"

"I've lied for so long, I'm tired of it and I'm the one sorry. I need to tell you everything. You deserve to know everything before you decide if you still want to get married."

"What do you mean. It's been decided, we're getting married and this whole incident only makes me more sure Walker so don't you try to weasel your way out," said Ryan nervously. It had been many many months since Annie tried to slow things down. They had come so far.

"You might change your mind after you hear everything."

"There's nothing you can do or say that will make me walk away from us. We can do this later, are you in any pain?"

"No nothing, I can't handle. I've had to do things on this mission, things that violate. . ."

"No, stop, I don't _want_ to know. I don't _need_ to know. What happens on your missions, what you need to do doesn't matter. I understand your job. I don't like it, but we agreed, it's best that we don't know details. I know you come home to me and that's all I care about."

Annie began crying, wondering if this was for the best, would he bring it up years later? Would he ever want to know the things she had to do that violated unspoken codes about fidelity? It was one reason she wanted out, after marriage vows she couldn't and didn't want to use her sexuality to obtain intel or turn another again. For a few minutes they just held hands in silence, comforting each other.

Finally Annie said, "Did you do what I asked?"

"Yes, but Annie, you need to focus on recovering. Your body has been through hell, you lost a lot of blood and let's just say this is the concussion talking, not you."

"I have all my faculties, what did you find?"

"Annie. . .," said Ryan slightly frustrated, but as he looked in her determined eyes, he knew she wouldn't let it go, so he told her what Fitz found. Ryan then took out his phone and showed Annie the stills Fitz sent her.

Annie took a deep breath, so there was evidence that she was with Ben.

"Remember the guy I told you about, the one I met in Sri Lanka."

Ryan nodded as his bros furrowed, "Yeah, your first love, the man I need to thank for breaking your heart."

"I didn't tell you he was a covert operative for the DPD."

Ryan was surprised and not surprised at the same time. He played it off. . . "Well, I guess I didn't ask. I was just focused on how many there were before me." Annie loved that he was always joking, so witty with his comebacks.

A knock came, perfectly timed to pause the conversation. He didn't see that coming. One of the men stationed outside entered. There's a visitor here, says he knows you and Ms. Walker. He wants to come in, we've held him off, but he's insistent. . .

"Who is it?" They both ask.

"Says his name is Arthur Campbell and we've verified that it is indeed him."

"Give us a few minutes before letting him in," said Annie. She wanted to finish talking to Ryan.

"I don't know what to do. At first I kept it from Joan. I wasn't completely thinking straight, but now I don't know what. . ."

Ryan's wheels were turning. A dozen questions popped into his head.

"Wait, you met him before you even applied for a job at the CIA."

"He's the reason I got in, then Joan and Arthur pulled me out of training to lure him back after he went off the reservation."

"Joan and Arthur did what?"

"And that's why you didn't tell Joan you saw him."

"No that's why _he didn't_ want me to tell Joan that I saw him. I'm rethinking that now that I see things more clearly. I don't want to lie to Joan. I don't want to lie to anyone anymore."

"Why didn't you tell her earlier?"

"I pictured what would come next and I didn't want anything to do with it, especially when I just told Joan, I was out."

Ryan remembered what Joan had said about Annie wanting an exit, "You told Joan you wanted out?"

Annie nodded and started to have a coughing fit. It hurt to cough, it hurt so much. Ryan brought a cup to her. "We can do this later Walker… I can tell Arthur you need your rest."

"No, I'm good," said Annie as she pressed the button on the IV for more painkiller. Ryan knew she had to have been in a lot of pain to press the button.

"I told her I wanted out of the field after this last mission and I saw all of that going away the minute she finds out Ben Mercer is back on the radar."

"You think she'd use you again?"

Annie nodded. "I've been with the CIA long enough to know how it operates."

"What was he doing there?"

"He said our missions were aligned and that he completed his mission."

A knock came, the minutes they asked for had passed. It was Arthur with a bouquet of flowers. He knew just then he entered and interrupted something.

"Arthur" said Ryan.

"Annie, you're awake."

"Thanks for coming."

"Of course, Joan's been so worried. She can't make it out of work yet and I wanted to offer my support. Everyone back at McQuaid is pulling for you."

"I appreciate that Arthur."

"Annie's due to be transferred in another couple f hours. You can tell Joan, we'll see her after Annie's fully recovered," said Ryan.

"Uh Ryan, can we speak outside?"

"I'll get a doctor to come in, we want to make sure you're okay to transfer out of here."

Annie nodded, she was growing tired again and the morphine was doing its' job.

The two men stepped outside.

Arthur began, "Fitz sent me the photos he found to see if I could help, the man Annie was with is…"

"Ben Mercer" both men say simultaneously.

Arthur looked surprised.

"Annie told me."

Arthur sighed. "Then she told you that we pulled her out, that she used her as bait to lure Mercer back in?"

Ryan clenched his jaw, now wasn't the time to discuss Arthur's mistakes.

"When was the last you heard from him? Do you know who is he working for?"

"He was a deep cover operative for me, I ordered him to leave and sent him on a mission. We realized we needed Annie and he was a distraction, they were a distraction to each other. I don't know what happened to him after I left the CIA. He was on a deep cover mission for me in Lebanon because he passes for an Arab. I assume Joan has details on his last mission."

"Well she has no idea Annie encountered him and Annie wants to keep it from her. She's afraid the CIA will use her and she wants out of this life."

Arthur was in a hard spot. Does he lie to his wife or betray his boss?

"Do you have any idea who he would be working for?"

"Ben's a righteous man, he has his own ideas of justice, but my guess is he's freelancing. He never liked taking orders. . . but I'll see what I can find out."

He extended his hand. Ryan hesitated at first. "We all have done things we regret," said Arthur and if I had it do all over, maybe I wouldn't have kept those two apart, but that also means you would be here with her now. . ."

Ryan took his hand and shook it. "Thanks for coming by and for looking into it."

/

Ben was down the hall watching, the exchange between Ryan McQuaid and Arthur Campbell. He was definitely out of the loop, he lost track of Arthur who had stayed out of the limelight after his shameful exit from the CIA. But Arthur's exit was Ben's good fortune because when he came out of his last mission for Arthur, he dropped his intel and took a vacation while he waited to be contacted again. It turned out Ben fell through the cracks with the change in guard. The new DCI never reached out and Ben moved on, he was recruited by the NSA and worked for them the last couple of years. He just learned while doing research McQuaid Securities that Arthur was on his management team as Chief Intelligence Officer.

Ben overheard whispers about Annie's transfer. If he didn't have an opportunity to approach Annie here, he would have to do it while she was being transported. He watched Arthur leave and Ryan re-enter Annie's room, but not before he heard him informing the nursing staff that Annie had regained consciousness. A weight felt like it had been lifted from Ben's shoulders, it was the first good news Ben heard about Annie and it alleviated his guilt over allowing Annie to board the plane knowing she was hurt.

/

Ryan re-entered the room. Annie opened her eyes after drifting back to sleep for what seemed like hours, but she knew it was only minutes by looking at the wall clock.

"That was nice of Arthur to come by."

Ryan cut to the chase, "You have to tell Joan, you need to come clean. If there's anything I've learned, it's the truth is a good place to start and if she wants to use you to lure Ben Mercer back in, it will be over my dead body. She can find him on her own."

Annie nodded. "I agree."

"You do?" he expected her to push back.

"I said I didn't want to lie anymore and that includes lying to Joan."

Ryan heard Annie's stomach growl and it made him smile.

"You hungry?"

"You're not upset with me?"

"Nope, you asked me for help, you told me the truth, I'm not upset. Now what can I get you to eat?"

"But there's a whole of more truth you don't know about me . . .and if you knew. . ."

"Knowing won't change how I feel about you and if I knew everything where would the mystery be? Remember everyone's entitled to a secret or two. . ."

"What are your secrets Ryan McQuaid?"

He smiled at her, brought his hand to her face and brushed some hair away from her eyes. "I'm an open book where you're concerned."

"I love you so much, I kept thinking about how much I had to say to you and . . ." Annie's stomach rumbled.

Ryan laughed, "Stop, How about I get you something to eat. Soup and ice cream? I believe the doctor said only soft foods."

Annie nodded and smiled.

"I'll be back soon."

/

Ben watched as a happy Ryan walked out of Annie's room with a heaviness lifted. He heard him say to the guards that a doctor would be by soon. He felt a kinship with the man as he watched the difference in his demeanor from earlier. It signaled that Annie was truly okay. After careful consideration over the time he spent watching over Annie, Ben decided to enter her room. The security guards didn't question him or ask for credentials.

Annie had closed her eyes and fallen back to sleep as she thought about what Ryan said. Was the truth the right move with Joan? It was right with Ryan, but she wasn't sure about Joan.

"Back so soon?" Annie woke to the sound of the door opening.

"Annie, it's me, Ben."

"What are you doing here?" Ben noted that the monitors started beeping more rapidly and Annie's startled movements seemed to cause her pain. She let out a small groan as she let out a breath and crinkled her brows.

"Annie! Are you okay?"

"Yeah," said Annie through gritted teeth.

"You can't be here, not now."

"I had to make sure you were okay, I'm sorry Annie, if I had known you were so bad off, I never would have let you get on the plane."

"I'm fine."

"This doesn't look fine, I looked at your chart."

Annie continued to take some deep breaths.

/

Ryan reached the cafeteria where he ladled chicken soup and minestrone into containers. He picked up some individual cups of Ben and Jerry's from the frozen case and paid. Then his phone rang.

"Fitz!"

"You should chipper, Annie must be okay."

"She's going to be okay."

"That's great news man. Tell her she still owes me that rematch in pool."

"Will do."

"The guys at the office got a hit off that guy's face, he landed at Dulles earlier today."

"What?" responded Ryan while forgoing the elevator and instead running up the stairs. If Ben Mercer was in town, there was only one reason in Ryan's mind, Annie! He wasn't sure at that point why Ben needed or wanted to see Annie, but she was alone.

"Whoever he is, he's in town. Since she's up, can you ask her now if she was working with him?"

"I know she's definitely not working with him," said Ryan breathlessly.

"What's going on boss, you training for a marathon?"

"No, if he's in D.C., Annie might be vulnerable, I'm running to her room."

"Stay on the line with me. I'll call for back-up."


	9. Chapter 9

Note: Again, I don't own these characters, they all belong to USA and CA Writers.

Sorry for the delay, traveled over the holidays and decided to leave the laptop at home, plus no one knows I do this besides you followers. It's my personal guilty pleasure and somewhat exciting to have a secret. Not looking forward to real life tomorrow.

I think I've ended this in a way that give closure to all. I hope you like it. Adele's album has so much on it that inspires me to write more CA fanfic. I will try to finish up the other stories soon. Please review! I appreciate hearing from you all.

"Annie I'm sorry for dragging you into this life. When we met all those years ago. . . it was a fling, but then it turned into something more. You made me feel something I never felt before. . . I've thought of you often over the years, it was tough at first, but then time passed. . . and now that I know what your life has been like, I feel responsible, I'm . . . sorry for everything I've done to hurt you, to drag you into this life," continued Ben.

"What is this? You came for forgiveness? There's nothing to forgive Ben. I made my choices, what happened to me since we've met isn't about you, so don't go on feeling responsible," said Annie with more disdain than she had intended. Annie was still feeling groggy, but now, he came to her with this now, she was annoyed by the current situation he put her in and wasn't at all interested in rehashing the past. It would have been nice had he said what he said years ago, but she got over him, she got her closure on her own and now he needed forgiveness after all this time? She was starting to get angry, but she could see that he was genuinely sorry.

"I needed to say those things. I don't think I've ever said I was sorry for breaking your heart."

Annie couldn't help it, she rolled her eyes at his last remark. "Ben, you're the worst and best thing that happened to me."

"I don't quite know how to take that, but thanks?"

/

"Ryan, are you still there?" asked Fitz.

"Yeah," said an out of breath Ryan who had booked it up the stairs and through corridors to try to get back to Annie.

"I have some of our guys heading over to look out for this guy, do you think he means to harm Annie?"

"No, I don't know actually," said Ryan. "I'm almost here, I gotta go."

When Ryan reached Annie's floor, he saw her doctor enter another room. "Anyone been in?" he asked the men stationed outside. "The doctor is inside right now."

/

"There's nothing to forgive, but if it makes you feel better, I have a wonderful life and a future with someone I love very much. I haven't looked back and I won't be looking back. I've learned to keep my eyes. . . "

Suddenly Ryan swung the door open with his gun pointed at Ben. "Step away from her."

"Whoa, cowboy, that's not necessary. I'm not here to hurt Annie," said Ben as he put his hands up and backed away from Annie's bedside.

"Why are you here?" asked Ryan gruffly.

"We were just getting there, honey, look at me, it's okay, he's not going to hurt me so you can put away the gun." Ryan hesitated. He looked over at Annie and then back to Ben who still had his hands up. Ryan walked over and asked, "You carrying?"

Ben nodded. "Back of my pants."

"Turn around,"

Ryan lifted the gun from Ben. He handed it to Annie. "Not planning on hurting anyone huh?"

"A Glock, nice," said Annie trying to lighten things up.

"All good now? Can I put my hands down?"

"I'm Ben Mercer," said Ben extending his hand to Ryan who was still pointing a gun at him.

"I know who you are."

"So Annie's told you…" before Ben finished his sentence Ryan who had stored his gun took a swing at Ben and landed square in his jaw.

Ben didn't hesitate to swing back, but Ryan blocked his swing and grabbed his arm.

Annie's monitors went crazy. "Stop, stop, it right now!" she tried shouting as she sat upright despite how painful it was to do so.

Ryan pinned Ben up against the windows and all his anger showed, "Why in the hell did you leave her?"

"Huh?" asked a confused Ben. Was he talking about leaving her in Sri Lanka? At the hospital? In Miami? Ben hadn't been put in that position in a long time, the pain radiated up his arm and he tasted the blood in his mouth.

"She could have died. I almost lost her. I just want to know what kind of man does that to someone they once loved," Ryan in his anger pushed his hands deep into Ben's back when the beeping and Annie's words finally registered. He gave Ben one last shove into the window before he released him and went to Annie.

She gave him a disapproving look. "What? He was with you, he must have known you were in bad shape and he went on his merry way."

"I didn't know she was so hurt, if I had known. . ." said Ben.

Ryan took Annie's hand. He saw that she was taking deep breaths, "Are you okay?" he asked Annie as he looked at her monitors, things were going back to normal and the beeping stopped. "I'm hungry, where's the food you promised?"

"I left it outside," he chuckled. "Let me get it," said Ryan. "You, you stay put. I have questions."

A nurse came in with Ryan. "Your blood pressure rose, what's going on?"

"I'm fine."

"Are these gentlemen causing trouble?" said the nurse when she noted the obvious tension between Ryan and Ben as well as the blood on Ben's fat lip.

"Please, the patient needs her rest."

"No, I'm fine. Is it okay if I eat something?"

"Your chart indicated soft foods only, I'll get you a menu from food services."

"Thank you," said Ryan.

"Only one visitor allowed at a time," said the nurse.

"This is my brother, he's just here in town briefly, will you make an exception?" asked Annie in her sweetly innocent voice.

The nurse nodded. "But just until you finish eating."

"Thank you," said Ben who was hurt to be referred to as Annie's brother. He had time to register some of what transpired since he entered Annie's room and it was clear that she had been over him for some time now.

As soon as the nurse left Ryan asked, "Why are you here exactly?"

"Look, can I just talk to you privately for a few minutes?" asked Ben while looking only at Annie and rubbing his jaw. He still had that metallic taste in his mouth.

"No, anything you can to say to me, you can say in front of my fiancé."

"Really Annie?" after everything we've been through we can't have a few minutes?

She shook her head.

"You're pushing it Ben, Annie needs her rest," said Ryan who was curious as to why this man showed up if he was so keen on Annie not telling Joan about him.

"My agency, wants you to work with us. I work for. . ."

"Special Collections," said Ryan.

"How did you know?"

"I'm connected and know very resourceful people."

"No way. I'm out Ben, I told you that in Miami, Ryan and I are getting married and we're planning to start a family soon. I'm moving to a desk job and not looking to move to another agency."

"We are what?" asked a delighted yet surprised Ryan.

Annie nodded. "I stopped taking the pill a week ago." Ryan was continually amazed by her ability to render him speechless. He simply looked at her while squeezing her hand.

"You heard the lady, the answer is no."

"The thing is my agency is very adamant, if Annie doesn't work for us, they will let Joan know that I was there and Annie will be in a lot of hot water."

"Don't come in here threatening me Ben," said Annie.

"I'm going to tell Joan myself."

"Really?" asked a shocked Ben. He had to admit, he admired her for standing up for herself.

"Really, I'm going to say, Ben was in Miami with me, he killed Lorenzo for the NSA," said Annie. "Ryan give me your phone."

Ryan knew when to follow orders and he saw Annie's determined side so he handed her his phone. "Not that one, the other one."

"My personal encrypted phone?"

"What other one do you have?" asked Annie.

He handed it over immediately. He always carried a second phone.

Annie turned it on and dialed Joan Campbell's line.

"No, no, you can't call her Annie. Annie Walker you can't," said Ben moving closer to Annie's bed. She picked up his Glock, "Watch me."

Ryan knew this man was a killer, he didn't trust him, so he took out his weapon. "Step away from the bed and sit your ass down in that chair over there."

"Joan?"

"Annie, you're awake! I'm so glad. How are you feeling?"

"I'm good, but I don't have much time to update you on my condition." She began talking and told Joan everything she remembered at lightening speed. Ryan listened and learned some things that were hard to hear about what Annie endured on her mission. It took about five minutes to bring Joan up to speed.

"I see, I had gotten intel that Lorenzo was killed and none of it added up, but now it does," said Joan on the other end.

Annie switched to speaker.

"That bastard John Redmond (made up name for the head of the NSA) thinks he can lone wolf it when there were multiple agencies involved in this operation, well he's in for a rude awakening."

"Joan, you don't have all the intel. Lorenzo was helping to move terrorists, he had perfected his pipelines and we had reason to believe he was smuggling radicals into the U.S. and bringing arms back here with them. His own cartel didn't know it. He was doing it to make money on the side."

"Well it's nice to hear from you Ben. Why didn't the NSA come to us with this intel?" demanded Joan.

"The order came straight from the Oval. I don't work for Redmond, he's just the messenger, I work for the President," said Ben. Everyone in the room understood the President's need to distance himself and have deniability.

"Then the best course of action is to have someone on the inside at the NSA. Someone who will loop us in."

"So you want Annie to work for them? No fucking way Joan, you're not using her like that," said Ryan.

"Who said anything about Annie? She's already made her intentions clear about having a family and staying put."

"Oh no, I can't Joan," said Ben when he realized she was talking about him.

"Oh you can and you will Ben," said Joan.

"You'll report to me your every assignment. The CIA needs to be looped in and you'll do it or I will haul your ass in for questioning and I'm sure Ryan will help me do it."

Ben sighs, "If they find out I'm out of a job, a livelihood."

"That time comes for all of us Ben," said Annie.

"Then you'll come work for me officially again," said Joan.

"Or me," said Ryan surprising both himself, Ben and Annie.

"You can slip out go back to where you came from. I'll have a burner sent to you. Tell them Walker is out of commission and that she's no longer a covert operative," said Joan. "I'll make sure word gets around about her retirement as well."

"Thanks Joan," said Annie.

"No, thank you and you're getting transferred in another couple of hours so rest up."

Once off the phone, Annie looks at Ryan. "Well, that's done," and sighed. "It wasn't so bad, see Ben, the truth while complicated, isn't as scary as one imagines it will be. It's liberating actually, I feel like I finally get it," said Annie while looking at Ryan. "I don't need to hear anymore truth Annie, the things you've done don't matter and there's a difference between being honest and keeping the past in the past. I'm just so happy you're okay and that you're not going into the field again. I just need to know that you're doing it for yourself and not for me, I don't want you to resent me one day."

Ben was feeling uncomfortable as he watched the couple interact. He saw what he could have had and it hurt. He cleared his throat and said, "I found this when I went to clean your safe house," he took out the envelope from his pocket and handed it to Annie. She dumped the contents into her hand and smiled when she saw the circle of diamonds on the platinum chain. Ryan had given it to her because she couldn't wear her engagement ring to work. "Oh, I thought I'd never see this again, thank you, thank you, Ryan I would never resent you, would you?" asked Annie handing it to him to put around her neck.

"Um, I have the rest of your stuff in my car if you want it before I leave, otherwise, I'll just see myself out," said Ben.

"Ryan, why don't you walk Ben out and get my things," said Annie handing the Glock back to Ryan.

Ryan and Ben both looked at each other and then Annie uncomfortably. "Go on, I'll be fine after I finally get to eat."

"Good-bye Ben. Be careful out there," said Annie.

Ryan kissed Annie and walked Ben out. There was awkward silence until they got outside the hospital. "Listen about what happened back there, I'm. . ." started Ryan.

"No need, I had it coming."

"Thank you for stepping in before Lorenzo hurt her even more," said Ryan extending his hand. Ben took it and they shook.

"I'm glad I was there for her," said Ben.

Ryan gives Ben his card and personal number. "If you ever need a favor or a job, please call."

"She won't like that."

"Oh I've never known Annie to reject a friend in need, loyalty, it's one of her best qualities," said Ryan.

"Here's Annie's stuff," said Ben.

"You got a good thing, the best thing that ever happened to me, so don't ever let her go."

"I won't, but she can't be the last best thing for you, don't give up on love man, I didn't, it took years for me to find Annie, but first I had to find myself," said Ryan.

"Here's your Glock," said Ryan.

Ben drove away while Ryan stood watching with Annie's suitcase.


End file.
